Desire And Possession 1727 Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCCDDEEBBFFGGHHIIJJ KKLLMMNOKKPPFFQQQQQQ RRSSTTUUQQQQLLQQVV| 'Tis strange what different thoughts inspire | A |
| In men Possession and Desire | B |
| Think what they wish so great a blessing | C |
| So disappointed when possessing | C |
| A moralist profoundly sage | D |
| I know not in what book or page | D |
| Or whether o'er a pot of ale | E |
| Related thus the following tale | E |
| Possession and Desire his brother | B |
| But still at variance with each other | B |
| Were seen contending in a race | F |
| And kept at first an equal pace | F |
| 'Tis said their course continued long | G |
| For this was active that was strong | G |
| Till Envy Slander Sloth and Doubt | H |
| Misled them many a league about | H |
| Seduced by some deceiving light | I |
| They take the wrong way for the right | I |
| Through slippery by roads dark and deep | J |
| They often climb and often creep | J |
| Desire the swifter of the two | K |
| Along the plain like lightning flew | K |
| Till entering on a broad highway | L |
| Where power and titles scatter'd lay | L |
| He strove to pick up all he found | M |
| And by excursions lost his ground | M |
| No sooner got than with disdain | N |
| He threw them on the ground again | O |
| And hasted forward to pursue | K |
| Fresh objects fairer to his view | K |
| In hope to spring some nobler game | P |
| But all he took was just the same | P |
| Too scornful now to stop his pace | F |
| He spurn'd them in his rival's face | F |
| Possession kept the beaten road | Q |
| And gather'd all his brother strew'd | Q |
| But overcharged and out of wind | Q |
| Though strong in limbs he lagg'd behind | Q |
| Desire had now the goal in sight | Q |
| It was a tower of monstrous height | Q |
| Where on the summit Fortune stands | R |
| A crown and sceptre in her hands | R |
| Beneath a chasm as deep as Hell | S |
| Where many a bold adventurer fell | S |
| Desire in rapture gazed awhile | T |
| And saw the treacherous goddess smile | T |
| But as he climb'd to grasp the crown | U |
| She knock'd him with the sceptre down | U |
| He tumbled in the gulf profound | Q |
| There doom'd to whirl an endless round | Q |
| Possession's load was grown so great | Q |
| He sunk beneath the cumbrous weight | Q |
| And as he now expiring lay | L |
| Flocks every ominous bird of prey | L |
| The raven vulture owl and kite | Q |
| At once upon his carcass light | Q |
| And strip his hide and pick his bones | V |
| Regardless of his dying groans | V |
Jonathan Swift
(1)
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