Satire Against Reason And Mankind Poem Rhyme Scheme

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John Wilmot

Satire Against Reason And Mankind Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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Were I who to my cost already am	A
One of those strange prodigious creatures man	B
A spirit free to choose for my own share	C
What case of flesh and blood I pleased to wear	C
I'd be a dog a monkey or a bear	C
Or anything but that vain animal	D
Who is so proud of being rational	D
	-
The senses are too gross and he'll contrive	E
A sixth to contradict the other five	E
And before certain instinct will prefer	F
Reason which fifty times for one does err	C
Reason an ignis fatuus in the mind	G
Which leaving light of nature sense behind	G
Pathless and dangerous wandering ways it takes	H
Through error's fenny bogs and thorny brakes	H
Whilst the misguided follower climbs with pain	I
Mountains of whimseys heaped in his own brain	I
Stumbling from thought to thought falls headlong down	J
Into doubt's boundless sea where like to drown	J
Books bear him up a while and make him try	K
To swim with bladders of philosophy	L
In hopes still to o'ertake th' escaping light	M
The vapor dances in his dazzling sight	M
Till spent it leaves him to eternal night	M
Then old age and experience hand in hand	N
Lead him to death and make him understand	N
After a search so painful and so long	O
That all his life he has been in the wrong	O
Huddled in dirt the reasoning engine lies	P
Who was proud so witty and so wise	P
	-
Pride drew him in as cheats their bubbles catch	Q
And made him venture to be made a wretch	Q
His wisdom did his happiness destroy	R
Aiming to know that world he should enjoy	R
And wit was his vain frivolous pretense	S
Of pleasing others at his own expense	S
For wits are treated just like common whores	T
First they're enjoyed and then kicked out of doors	T
The pleasure past a threatening doubt remains	U
That frights th' enjoyer with succeeding pains	U
Women and men of wit are dangerous tools	V
And ever fatal to admiring fools	V
Pleasure allures and when the fops escape	W
'Tis not that they're belov'd but fortunate	X
And therefore that they fear at heart they hate	Y
	-
But now methinks some formal band and beard	Z
Takes me to task Come on sir I'm prepared	A2
	-
Then by your favor anything that's writ	B2
Against this gibing jingling knack called wit	B2
Likes me abundantly but you take care	C
Upon this point not to be too severe	C2
Perhaps my muse were fitter for this part	D2
For I profess I can be very smart	D2
On wit which I abhor with all my heart	D2
I long to lash it in some sharp essay	E2
But your grand indiscretion bids me stay	E2
And turns my tide of ink another way	E2
	-
What rage ferments in your degenerate mind	G
To make you rail at reason and mankind	G
Blest glorious man to whom alone kind heaven	F2
An everlasting soul has freely given	F2
Whom his great Maker took such care to make	G2
That from himself he did the image take	G2
And this fair frame in shining reason dressed	H2
To dignify his nature above beast	I2
Reason by whose aspiring influence	J2
We take a flight beyond material sense	S
Dive into mysteries then soaring pierce	K2
The flaming limits of the universe	L2
Search heaven and hell find out what's acted there	C
And give the world true grounds of hope and fear	C2
	-
Hold mighty man I cry all this we know	M2
From the pathetic pen of Ingelo	D
From Patrick's Pilgrim Sibbes' soliloquies	L2
And 'tis this very reason I despise	L2
This supernatural gift that makes a mite	M
Think he's the image of the infinite	X
Comparing his short life void of all rest	H2
To the eternal and the ever blest	H2
This busy puzzling stirrer up of doubt	N2
That frames deep mysteries then finds 'em out	N2
Filling with frantic crowds of thinking fools	L2
Those reverend bedlams colleges and schools	L2
Borne on whose wings each heavy sot can pierce	L2
The limits of the boundless universe	L2
So charming ointments make an old witch fly	D
And bear a crippled carcass through the sky	D
'Tis this exalted power whose business lies	L2
In nonsense and impossibilities	L2
This made a whimsical philosopher	F
Before the spacious world his tub prefer	F
And we have modern cloistered coxcombs who	O2
Retire to think 'cause they have nought to do	O2
	-
But thoughts are given for action's government	P2
Where action ceases thought's impertinent	P2
Our sphere of action is life's happiness	L2
And he who thinks beyond thinks like an ass	L2
Thus whilst against false reasoning I inveigh	L
I own right reason which I would obey	E2
That reason which distinguishes by sense	L2
And gives us rules of good and ill from thence	L2
That bounds desires with a reforming will	D
To keep 'em more in vigour not to kill	D
Your reason hinders mine helps to enjoy	R
Renewing appetites yours would destroy	R
My reason is my friend yours is a cheat	Q2
Hunger calls out my reason bids me eat	Q2
Perversely yours your appetite does mock	R2
This asks for food that answers 'What's o'clock '	-
This plain distinction sir your doubt secures	L2
'Tis not true reason I despise but yours	L2
	-
Thus I think reason righted bur for man	B
I'll ne'er recant defend him if you can	B
For all his pride and his philosophy	L
'Tis evident beasts are in their degree	L
As wise at least and better far than he	L
Those creatures are the wisest who attain	I
By surest means the ends at which they aim	S2
If therefore Jowler finds and kills his hares	L2
Better than Meres supplies committee chairs	L2
Though one's a statesman th' other but a hound	T2
Jowler in justice would be wiser found	T2
	-
You see how far man's wisdom here extends	L2
Look next if human nature makes amends	L2
Whose principles most generous are and just	U2
And to whose morals you would sooner trust	U2
Be judge yourself I'll bring it to the test	H2
Which is the basest creature man or beast	I2
Birds feed on birds beasts on each other prey	E2
But savage man alone does man betray	E2
Pressed by necessity they kill for food	V2
Man undoes man to do himself no good	W2
With teeth and claws by nature armed they hunt	P2
Nature's allowance to supply their want	X2
But man with smiles embraces friendship praise	L2
Inhumanly his fellow's life betrays	L2
With voluntary pains works his distress	L2
Not through necessity but wantonness	L2
	-
For hunger or for love they fight or tear	C
Whilst wretched man is still in arms for fear	C2
For fear he arms and is of arms afraid	Y2
By fear to fear successively betrayed	Y2
Base fear the source whence his best passions came	S2
His boasted honor and his dear bought fame	S2
That lust of power to which he's a slave	L
And for the which alone he dares be brave	L
To which his various projects are designed	G
Which makes him generous affable and kind	G
For which he takes such pains to be thought wise	L2
And screws his actions in a forced disguise	L2
Leading a tedious life in misery	L
Under laborious mean hypocrisy	L
Look to the bottom of his vast design	Z2
Wherein man's wisdom power and glory join	A3
The good he acts the ill he does endure	B3
'Tis all from fear to make himself secure	B3
Merely for safety after fame we thirst	C3
For all men would be cowards if they durst	C3
	-
And honesty's against all common sense	L2
Men must be knaves 'tis in their own defence	L2
Mankind's dishonest if you think it fair	C
Amongst known cheats to play upon the square	C
You'll be undone	F2
Nor can weak truth your reputation save	L
The knaves will all agree to call you knave	L
Wronged shall he live insulted o'er oppressed	H2
Who dares be less a villain than the rest	H2
Thus sir you see what human nature craves	L2
Most men are cowards all men should be knaves	L2
The difference lies as far as I can see	L
Not in the thing itself but the degree	L
And all the subject matter of debate is only	L
Who's a knave of the first rate	Y
	-
All this with indignation have I hurled	D3
At the pretending part of the proud world	D3
Who swollen with selfish vanity devise	L2
False freedoms holy cheats and formal lies	L2
Over their fellow slaves to tyrannize	L2
	-
But if in Court so just a man there be	L
In Court a just man yet unknown to me	L
Who does his needful flattery direct	E3
Not to oppress and ruin but protect	E3
Since flattery which way soever laid	Y2
Is still a tax on that unhappy trade	Y2
If so upright a statesman you can find	G
Whose passions bend to his unbiased mind	G
Who does his arts and policies apply	D
To raise his country not his family	L
Nor whilst his pride owned avarice withstands	L2
Receives close bribes through friends' corrupted hands	L2
	-
Is there a churchman who on God relies	L2
Whose life his faith and doctrine justifies	L2
Not one blown up with vain prelatic pride	F3
Who for reproof of sins does man deride	F3
Whose envious heart makes preaching a pretense	L2
With his obstreperous saucy eloquence	L2
To chide at kings and rail at men of sense	L2
None of that sensual tribe whose talents lie	D
In avarice pride sloth and gluttony	L
Who hunt good livings but abhor good lives	L2
Whose lust exalted to that height arrives	L2
They act adultery with their own wives	L2
And ere a score of years completed be	L
Can from the lofty pulpit proudly see	L
Half a large parish their own progeny	L
Nor doting bishop who would be adored	G3
For domineering at the council board	G3
A greater fop in business at fourscore	L
Fonder of serious toys affected more	L
Than the gay glittering fool at twenty proves	L2
With all his noise his tawdry clothes and loves	L2
	-
But a meek humble man of honest sense	L2
Who preaching peace does practice continence	L2
Whose pious life's a proof he does believe	L
Mysterious truths which no man can conceive	L
If upon the earth there dwell such God like men	H3
I'll here recant my paradox to them	I3
Adore those shrines of virtue homage pay	E2
And with the rabble world their laws obey	E2
	-
If such there be yet grant me this at least	I2
Man differs more from man than man from beast	I2