The Pack-horse And The Carrier Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BBCC DDEEFF GGHHIIJKLL EEMMNNOOPPQQAARR FFEESS TTUU GGVVWWXXYYZZA2A2ZZAB 2C2C2 A2A2ZZZZZZZZWW| To a Young Nobleman | A |
| - | |
| - | |
| Begin my lord in early youth | B |
| To bear with nay encourage truth | B |
| And blame me not for disrespect | C |
| That I the flatterer's style reject | C |
| - | |
| Let Virtue be your first pursuit | D |
| Is not the tree known by its fruit | D |
| Set your great ancestry in view | E |
| Honour the title from them due | E |
| Assert that you are nobly born | F |
| Viewing ignoble things with scorn | F |
| - | |
| My lord your ancestry had not | G |
| The wealth and heirlooms you have got | G |
| Yet was their conscience aye their own | H |
| Nor ever pandered to the throne | H |
| With hands by no corruption stained | I |
| They ministerial bribes disdained | I |
| They served the Crown upheld the laws | J |
| And bore at heart their country's cause | K |
| So did your sires adorn their name | L |
| And raised the title unto fame | L |
| - | |
| My lord 'tis not permitted you | E |
| To do what humbler men may do | E |
| You may not be a dunce your post | M |
| Is foremost and before the host | M |
| You may not serve a private end | N |
| To jobs you may not condescend | N |
| As from obscurity exempt | O |
| So are you open to contempt | O |
| Your name alone descends by birth | P |
| Your fame is consequent on worth | P |
| Nor deem a coronet can hide | Q |
| Folly or overweening pride | Q |
| Learning by toil and study won | A |
| Was ne'er entailed from sire to son | A |
| If you degenerate from your race | R |
| Its merit heightens your disgrace | R |
| - | |
| A carrier at night and morn | F |
| Watched while his horses ate their corn | F |
| It sunk the ostler's vales 'tis true | E |
| But then his horses got their due | E |
| It were as well in some like cases | S |
| If Ministers watched over places | S |
| - | |
| And as he stood the manger minding | T |
| And heard the teeth continue grinding | T |
| There was a racket for a pack horse | U |
| Foamed at the mouth and was in rack hoarse | U |
| - | |
| Why zounds he cried where have I got | G |
| Is then my high descent forgot | G |
| Must I endure the vile attacks | V |
| Of carriers' drudges common hacks | V |
| May Roan and Dobbin poke their noses | W |
| In cribs where my great nose reposes | W |
| Good gracious me why here's old Ball | X |
| No longer sacred is the stall | X |
| I see Democracy and Devil | Y |
| Will soon put all upon one level | Y |
| We have not been of race of Could would | Z |
| At Epsom Newmarket and Goodwood | Z |
| Nor by Dame Truth I vow and pledge her | A2 |
| Are we unknown at the St Leger | A2 |
| Unnumbered are our triumphs told | Z |
| Unnumbered are the cups we hold | Z |
| Unnumbered are our laurels won | A |
| And am I to be put upon | B2 |
| By carrier nags of low degree | C2 |
| O Fortune do not let it be | C2 |
| - | |
| You stupid blockhead said the carrier | A2 |
| 'Twixt you and us there is no barrier | A2 |
| Your headstrong youth and wilful heart | Z |
| Reduced you to a servile part | Z |
| And every carrier on the road | Z |
| Avers your oats are ill bestowed | Z |
| But know that you do not inherit | Z |
| From dam or sire any merit | Z |
| We give your ancestors their due | Z |
| But any ass is good as you | Z |
| As you are asinine and crass | W |
| So do we treat you as an ass | W |
John Gay
(1)
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About The Pack-horse And The Carrier
The Pack-horse And The Carrier is a poem by John Gay. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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