The Man And The Flea Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEFGHIIJJKKGH HLMMAANNOOAAPQRRMHHS NNRRTH| Whether on earth in air or main | A |
| Sure ev'ry thing alive is vain | A |
| Does not the hawk all fowls survey | B |
| As destin'd only for his prey | B |
| And do not tyrants prouder things | C |
| Think men were born for slaves to kings | C |
| When the crab views the pearly strands | D |
| Or Tagus bright with golden sands | D |
| Or crawls beside the coral grove | E |
| And hears the ocean roll above | F |
| 'Nature is too profuse ' says he | G |
| 'Who gave all these to pleasure me ' | H |
| When bord'ring pinks and roses bloom | I |
| And ev'ry garden breathes perfume | I |
| When peaches glow with sunny dyes | J |
| Like Laura's cheek when blushes rise | J |
| When with huge figs the branches bend | K |
| When clusters from the vine depend | K |
| The snail looks round on flow'r and tree | G |
| And cries 'All these were made for me ' | H |
| 'What dignity's in human nature ' | H |
| Says Man the most conceited creature | L |
| As from a cliff he cast his eye | M |
| And view'd the sea and arched sky | M |
| The sun was sunk beneath the main | A |
| The moon and all the starry train | A |
| Hung the vast vault of heav'n The Man | N |
| His contemplation thus began | N |
| 'When I behold this glorious show | O |
| And the side watry world below | O |
| The scaly people of the main | A |
| The beasts that range the wood or plain | A |
| The wing'd inhabitants of air | P |
| The day the night the various year | Q |
| And know all these by heav'n design'd | R |
| As gifts to pleasure human kind | R |
| I cannot raise my worth too high | M |
| Of what vast consequence am I ' | H |
| 'Not of th'importance you suppose ' | H |
| Replies a Flea upon his nose | S |
| 'Be humble learn thyself to scan | N |
| Know pride was never made for Man | N |
| 'Tis vanity that swells thy mind | R |
| What heav'n and earth for thee design'd | R |
| For thee made only for our need | T |
| That more important Fleas might feed ' | H |
John Gay
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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