The Herdsmen Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AA BA AA BA AC BC AD BD AE BE AF BF AG BG AHH BAAA ABBB BIII AJJJ BAAA IKKLL ALLL BBBB AMAM BLLBB ANNAA BA AA BII AAA BAA ABB| BATTUS | A |
| Who owns these cattle Corydon Philondas Prythee say | A |
| - | |
| CORYDON | B |
| No AEgon and he gave them me to tend while he's away | A |
| - | |
| BATTUS | A |
| Dost milk them in the gloaming when none is nigh to see | A |
| - | |
| CORYDON | B |
| The old man brings the calves to suck and keeps an eye on me | A |
| - | |
| BATTUS | A |
| And to what region then hath flown the cattle's rightful lord | C |
| - | |
| CORYDON | B |
| Hast thou not heard With Milo he vanished Elis ward | C |
| - | |
| BATTUS | A |
| How was the wrestler's oil e'er yet so much as seen by him | D |
| - | |
| CORYDON | B |
| Men say he rivals Heracles in lustiness of limb | D |
| - | |
| BATTUS | A |
| I'm Polydeuces' match or so my mother says and more | E |
| - | |
| CORYDON | B |
| So off he started with a spade and of these ewes a score | E |
| - | |
| BATTUS | A |
| This Milo will be teaching wolves how they should raven next | F |
| - | |
| CORYDON | B |
| And by these bellowings his kine proclaim how sore they're vexed | F |
| - | |
| BATTUS | A |
| Poor kine they've found their master a sorry knave indeed | G |
| - | |
| CORYDON | B |
| They're poor enough I grant you they have not heart to feed | G |
| - | |
| BATTUS | A |
| Look at that heifer sure there's naught save bare bones left of her | H |
| Pray does she browse on dewdrops as doth the grasshopper | H |
| - | |
| CORYDON | B |
| Not she by heaven She pastures now by AEsarus' glades | A |
| And handfuls fair I pluck her there of young and green grass blades | A |
| Now bounds about Latymnus that gathering place of shades | A |
| - | |
| BATTUS | A |
| That bull again the red one my word but he is lean | B |
| I wish the Sybarite burghers aye may offer to the queen | B |
| Of heaven as pitiful a beast those burghers are so mean | B |
| - | |
| CORYDON | B |
| Yet to the Salt Lake's edges I drive him I can swear | I |
| Up Physcus up Neaethus' side he lacks not victual there | I |
| With dittany and endive and foxglove for his fare | I |
| - | |
| BATTUS | A |
| Well well I pity AEgon His cattle go they must | J |
| To rack and ruin all because vain glory was his lust | J |
| The pipe that erst he fashioned is doubtless scored with rust | J |
| - | |
| CORYDON | B |
| Nay by the Nymphs That pipe he left to me the self same day | A |
| He made for Pisa I am too a minstrel in my way | A |
| Well the flute part in 'Pyrrhus' and in 'Glauca' can I play | A |
| I sing too 'Here's to Croton' and 'Zacynthus O 'tis fair ' | - |
| And 'Eastward to Lacinium ' the bruiser Milo there | I |
| His single self ate eighty loaves there also did he pull | K |
| Down from its mountain dwelling by one hoof grasped a bull | K |
| And gave it Amaryllis the maidens screamed with fright | L |
| As for the owner of the bull he only laughed outright | L |
| - | |
| BATTUS | A |
| Sweet Amaryllis thou alone though dead art unforgot | L |
| Dearer than thou whose light is quenched my very goats are not | L |
| Oh for the all unkindly fate that's fallen to my lot | L |
| - | |
| CORYDON | B |
| Cheer up brave lad tomorrow may ease thee of thy pain | B |
| Aye for the living are there hopes past' hoping are the slain | B |
| And now Zeus sends us sunshine and now he sends us rain | B |
| - | |
| BATTUS | A |
| I'm better Beat those young ones off E'en now their teeth attack | M |
| That olive's shoots the graceless brutes Back with your white face | A |
| back | M |
| - | |
| CORYDON | B |
| Back to thy hill Cymaetha Great Pan how deaf thou art | L |
| I shall be with thee presently and in the end thou'lt smart | L |
| I warn thee keep thy distance Look up she creeps again | B |
| Oh were my hare crook in nay hand I'd give it to her then | B |
| - | |
| BATTUS | A |
| For heaven's sake Corydon look here Just now a bramble spike | N |
| Ran there into my instep and oh how deep they strike | N |
| Those lancewood shafts A murrain light on that calf I say | A |
| I got it gaping after her Canst thou discern it pray | A |
| - | |
| CORYDON | B |
| Ay ay and here I have it safe in my finger nails | A |
| - | |
| BATTUS | A |
| Eh at how slight a matter how tall a warrior quails | A |
| - | |
| CORYDON | B |
| Ne'er range the hill crest Battus all sandal less and bare | I |
| Because the thistle and the thorn lift aye their plumed heads there | I |
| - | |
| BATTUS | A |
| Say Corydon does that old man we wot of tell me please | A |
| Still haunt the dark browed little girl whom once he used to tease | A |
| - | |
| CORYDON | B |
| Ay my poor boy that doth he I saw them yesterday | A |
| Down by the byre and trust me loving enough were they | A |
| - | |
| BATTUS | A |
| Well done my veteran light o' love In deeming thee mere man | B |
| I wronged thy sire some Satyr he or an uncouth limbed Pan | B |
Jon Corelis Theocritus
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
About The Herdsmen
The Herdsmen is a poem by Jon Corelis Theocritus. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
Write your comment about The Herdsmen poem by Jon Corelis Theocritus
Best Poems of Jon Corelis Theocritus