At A Vatican Exercise (excerpt) Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJK KJJLLMMNNOPQQDDFRSSJ JJJTTUVWWXYFF| The Latin speeches ended the English thus began | A |
| Hail native language that by sinews weak | B |
| Didst move my first endeavouring tongue to speak | B |
| And mad'st imperfect words with childish trips | C |
| Half unpronounc'd slide through my infant lips | C |
| Driving dumb Silence from the portal door | D |
| Where he had mutely sate two years before | D |
| Here I salute thee and thy pardon ask | E |
| That now I use thee in my latter task | E |
| Small loss it is that thence can come unto thee | F |
| I know my tongue but little grace can do thee | F |
| Thou needst not be ambitious to be first | G |
| Believe me I have thither pack'd the worst | G |
| And if it happen as I did forecast | H |
| The daintest dishes shall be serv'd up last | H |
| I pray thee then deny me not thy aid | I |
| For this same small neglect that I have made | I |
| But haste thee straight to do me once a pleasure | J |
| And from thy wardrobe bring thy chiefest treasure | J |
| Not those new fangled toys and trimming slight | K |
| Which takes our late fantastics with delight | K |
| But cull those richest robes and gay'st attire | J |
| Which deepest spirits and choicest wits desire | J |
| I have some naked thoughts that rove about | L |
| And loudly knock to have their passage out | L |
| And weary of their place do only stay | M |
| Till thou hast deck'd them in thy best array | M |
| That so they may without suspect or fears | N |
| Fly swiftly to this fair assembly's ears | N |
| Yet I had rather if I were to choose | O |
| Thy service in some graver subject use | P |
| Such as may make thee search thy coffers round | Q |
| Before thou clothe my fancy in fit sound | Q |
| Such where the deep transported mind may soar | D |
| Above the wheeling poles and at heav'n's door | D |
| Look in and see each blissful deity | F |
| How he before the thunderous throne doth lie | R |
| Listening to what unshorn Apollo sings | S |
| To th'touch of golden wires while Hebe brings | S |
| Immortal nectar to her kingly sire | J |
| Then passing through the spheres of watchful fire | J |
| And misty regions of wide air next under | J |
| And hills of snow and lofts of piled thunder | J |
| May tell at length how green ey'd Neptune raves | T |
| In heav'n's defiance mustering all his waves | T |
| Then sing of secret things that came to pass | U |
| When beldam Nature in her cradle was | V |
| And last of kings and queens and heroes old | W |
| Such as the wise Demodocus once told | W |
| In solemn songs at king Alcinous' feast | X |
| While sad Ulysses' soul and all the rest | Y |
| Are held with his melodious harmony | F |
| In willing chains and sweet captivity | F |
John Milton
(1)
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