Prologue To "oedipus." Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDEFFGGHIJKLLBB MMNNOOPPQQRSSSTT| When Athens all the Grecian state did guide | A |
| And Greece gave laws to all the world beside | A |
| Then Sophocles with Socrates did sit | B |
| Supreme in wisdom one and one in wit | B |
| And wit from wisdom differ'd not in those | C |
| But as 'twas sung in verse or said in prose | C |
| Then Oedipus on crowded theatres | D |
| Drew all admiring eyes and listening ears | E |
| The pleased spectator shouted every line | F |
| The noblest manliest and the best design | F |
| And every critic of each learned age | G |
| By this just model has reform'd the stage | G |
| Now should it fail as Heaven avert our fear | H |
| Damn it in silence lest the world should hear | I |
| For were it known this poem did not please | J |
| You might set up for perfect savages | K |
| Your neighbours would not look on you as men | L |
| But think the nation all turn'd Picts again | L |
| Faith as you manage matters 'tis not fit | B |
| You should suspect yourselves of too much wit | B |
| Drive not the jest too far but spare this piece | M |
| And for this once be not more wise than Greece | M |
| See twice do not pellmell to damning fall | N |
| Like true born Britons who ne'er think at all | N |
| Pray be advised and though at Mons you won | O |
| On pointed cannon do not always run | O |
| With some respect to ancient wit proceed | P |
| You take the four first councils for your creed | P |
| But when you lay tradition wholly by | Q |
| And on the private spirit alone rely | Q |
| You turn fanatics in your poetry | R |
| If notwithstanding all that we can say | S |
| You needs will have your penn'orths of the play | S |
| And come resolved to damn because you pay | S |
| Record it in memorial of the fact | T |
| The first play buried since the woollen act | T |
John Dryden
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