The Countryman And Jupiter Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A BBCCCCDDCCEEFFGHCCII JJAAJJ KLJJMMNN OOJJJJPPJJFF QQLKRR SSCCTT JJ UUGG VV JJ WWXXYY ZZZZ JJ ZZOOLLZZ ZZZZA2A2 ZZ OOZZZZ CC

To myselfA
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NOSCE TEIPSUM look and spyB
Have you a friend so fond as IB
Have you a fault to mankind knownC
Not hidden unto eyes your ownC
When airy castles you importuneC
Down falling by the breath of FortuneC
Did I e'er doubt you should inheritD
If Fortune's wheel devolved on meritD
It was not so for Fortune's frownC
Still perseveres to hold you downC
Then let us seek the cause and viewE
What others say and others doE
Have we like those in place resignedF
Our independency of mindF
Have we had scruples and thereforeG
Practising morals are we poorH
If such be our forlorn positionC
Would Fortune mend the lorn conditionC
On wealth if happiness were builtI
Villains would compass it by guiltI
No CRESCIT AMOR NUMMI misersJ
Are not so heartwhole as are sizarsJ
Think O John Gay and that's myselfA
Should Fortune make you her own elfA
Would that augment your happinessJ
Or haply might she make it lessJ
-
Suppose yourself a wealthy heirK
Of houses lands and income clearL
Your luxury might break all boundsJ
Of plate and table steeds and houndsJ
Debts debts of honour lust of playM
Will waste a county's wealth awayM
And so your income clear may failN
And end in exile or in jailN
-
Or were you raised to height of powerO
Would that ameliorate an hourO
Would avarice and false applauseJ
Weigh in the balance as two strawsJ
Defrauded nations blinded kingsJ
Would they not think you leave their stingsJ
If happiness then be your aimP
I mean the true not false of fameP
She nor in courts nor camps residesJ
Nor in the lowly cottage bidesJ
Nor on the soil nor on the windF
She tenants only in the mindF
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Wearied by toil beneath the shadeQ
A rustic rested on his spadeQ
This load of life from year to yearL
He said is very hard to bearK
The dawning morning bids me upR
To toil and labour till I supR
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Jove heard and answered him My friendS
Complaints that are unjust offendS
Speak out your griefs if you repineC
At any act or deed of mineC
If you can mend your state instruct meT
I wish but knowledge to conduct meT
-
So saying from the mundane crowdsJ
He raised the rustic to the cloudsJ
-
He showed a miser said BeholdU
His bulky bags that burst with goldU
He counts it over and the storeG
Is every day increased by moreG
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O happiness the rustic criedV
What can a fellow wish besideV
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Ah wait until I charm your eyesJ
Said Jupiter from fallaciesJ
-
He looked again and saw the breastW
Like a rough ocean ne'er at restW
Fear guilt and conscience gnawed the heartX
Extortion ever made it smartX
It seemed as if no sunlit gleamY
Could brighten it in thought or dreamY
-
Ah may the gods he cried rejectZ
My prayer for gold and comfort wrecktZ
But see yon minister of stateZ
And the gay crowd who proudly waitZ
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A second time I charm your eyesJ
Said Jove from mortal fallaciesJ
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He looked again and saw a breastZ
Gnawed by corruption wanting restZ
He saw him one time drunk with powerO
Tottering upon Ambition's towerO
Then seized with giddiness and fearL
Seeing his downfall in his rearL
O Jupiter the rustic saidZ
Give me again my plough and spadeZ
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But Jupiter was not contentedZ
The rustic's griefs he still resentedZ
So he deployed before his sightZ
The lawyer's and the soldier's plightZ
The miseries of war and lawA2
The battle field and legal flawA2
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O Jupiter the rustic saidZ
Restore me to the plough and spadeZ
-
Then Jupiter You mortals blunderO
There is no happiness in thunderO
For happiness to nought confinedZ
Is found in the contented mindZ
Go home again and be contentedZ
Nor grumble more like one dementedZ
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Then Jupiter to aid the clownC
Where he had found him put him downC

John Gay



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