To Mr Granville,[1] On His Excellent Tragedy Called "heroic Love." Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJ KKLLMMIINNOPQQRRSSII| Auspicious poet wert thou not my friend | A |
| How could I envy what I must commend | A |
| But since 'tis nature's law in love and wit | B |
| That youth should reign and withering age submit | B |
| With less regret those laurels I resign | C |
| Which dying on my brows revive on thine | C |
| With better grace an ancient chief may yield | D |
| The long contended honours of the field | D |
| Than venture all his fortune at a cast | E |
| And fight like Hannibal to lose at last | E |
| Young princes obstinate to win the prize | F |
| Though yearly beaten yearly yet they rise | F |
| Old monarchs though successful still in doubt | G |
| Catch at a peace and wisely turn devout | G |
| Thine be the laurel then thy blooming age | H |
| Can best if any can support the stage | H |
| Which so declines that shortly we may see | I |
| Players and plays reduced to second infancy | I |
| Sharp to the world but thoughtless of renown | J |
| They plot not on the stage but on the town | J |
| And in despair their empty pit to fill | K |
| Set up some foreign monster in a bill | K |
| Thus they jog on still tricking never thriving | L |
| And murdering plays which they miscall reviving | L |
| Our sense is nonsense through their pipes convey'd | M |
| Scarce can a poet know the play he made | M |
| 'Tis so disguised in death nor thinks 'tis he | I |
| That suffers in the mangled tragedy | I |
| Thus Itys first was kill'd and after dress'd | N |
| For his own sire the chief invited guest | N |
| I say not this of thy successful scenes | O |
| Where thine was all the glory theirs the gains | P |
| With length of time much judgment and more toil | Q |
| Not ill they acted what they could not spoil | Q |
| Their setting sun still shoots a glimmering ray | R |
| Like ancient Rome majestic in decay | R |
| And better gleanings their worn soil can boast | S |
| Than the crab vintage of the neighbouring coast | S |
| This difference yet the judging world will see | I |
| Thou copiest Homer and they copy thee | I |
John Dryden
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