Directions For Making A Birth-day Song Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A BBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKK LLMMNGOOPQRRJJQQLLQQ QQQQSSQQTTUGGGVWRRQQ QQJJXXJJJJQQQQYYGGZZ QQJJJJLLQQQQA2A2JJQQ JJB2B2JJJJLTJJJJC2C2 SSQQQQJJGGQQJJJJJJJJ JJGGTTRD2JJJJQQJJJJQ QQQLLE2E2QQGGLLGGQQQ QGGJJJJLLQQQQJJJJJJQ QF2F2QQGGJJQQLLLTJJQ QGGIIJJGGGGQQGGJJJJJ JJJSSJJQQQQQQG2G2TTH 2H2GGQQGGGGJJGGGGJJI 2I2JJJ2J2H2WWWGGGGLL GG

A
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To form a just and finish'd pieceB
Take twenty gods of Rome or GreeceB
Whose godships are in chief requestC
And fit your present subject bestC
And should it be your hero's caseD
To have both male and female raceD
Your business must be to provideE
A score of goddesses besideE
Some call their monarchs sons of SaturnF
For which they bring a modern patternF
Because they might have heard of oneG
Who often long'd to eat his sonG
But this I think will not go downH
For here the father kept his crownH
Why then appoint him son of JoveI
Who met his mother in a groveI
To this we freely shall consentJ
Well knowing what the poets meantJ
And in their sense 'twixt me and youK
It may be literally trueK
Next as the laws of verse requireL
He must be greater than his sireL
For Jove as every schoolboy knowsM
Was able Saturn to deposeM
And sure no Christian poet breathingN
Would be more scrupulous than a HeathenG
Or if to blasphemy it tendsO
That's but a trifle among friendsO
Your hero now another Mars isP
Makes mighty armies turn their a sQ
Behold his glittering falchion mowR
Whole squadrons at a single blowR
While Victory with wings outspreadJ
Flies like an eagle o'er his headJ
His milk white steed upon its haunchesQ
Or pawing into dead men's paunchesQ
As Overton has drawn his sireL
Still seen o'er many an alehouse fireL
Then from his arm hoarse thunder rollsQ
As loud as fifty mustard bowlsQ
For thunder still his arm suppliesQ
And lightning always in his eyesQ
They both are cheap enough in conscienceQ
And serve to echo rattling nonsenseQ
The rumbling words march fierce alongS
Made trebly dreadful in your songS
Sweet poet hired for birth day rhymesQ
To sing of wars choose peaceful timesQ
What though for fifteen years and moreT
Janus has lock'd his temple doorT
Though not a coffeehouse we read inU
Has mention'd arms on this side SwedenG
Nor London Journals nor the PostmenG
Though fond of warlike lies as most menG
Thou still with battles stuff thy head fullV
For must thy hero not be dreadfulW
Dismissing Mars it next must followR
Your conqueror is become ApolloR
That he's Apollo is as plain asQ
That Robin Walpole is M cenasQ
But that he struts and that he squintsQ
You'd know him by Apollo's printsQ
Old Phoebus is but half as brightJ
For yours can shine both day and nightJ
The first perhaps may once an ageX
Inspire you with poetic rageX
Your Phoebus Royal every dayJ
Not only can inspire but payJ
Then make this new Apollo sitJ
Sole patron judge and god of witJ
How from his altitude he stoopsQ
To raise up Virtue when she droopsQ
On Learning how his bounty flowsQ
And with what justice he bestowsQ
Fair Isis and ye banks of CamY
Be witness if I tell a flamY
What prodigies in arts we drainG
From both your streams in George's reignG
As from the flowery bed of NileZ
But here's enough to show your styleZ
Broad innuendoes such as thisQ
If well applied can hardly missQ
For when you bring your song in printJ
He'll get it read and take the hintJ
It must be read before 'tis warbledJ
The paper gilt and cover marbledJ
And will be so much more your debtorL
Because he never knew a letterL
And as he hears his wit and senseQ
To which he never made pretenceQ
Set out in hyperbolic strainsQ
A guinea shall reward your painsQ
For patrons never pay so wellA2
As when they scarce have learn'd to spellA2
Next call him Neptune with his tridentJ
He rules the sea you see him ride in'tJ
And if provoked he soundly firks hisQ
Rebellious waves with rods like XerxesQ
He would have seized the Spanish plateJ
Had not the fleet gone out too lateJ
And in their very ports besiege themB2
But that he would not disoblige themB2
And make the rascals pay him dearlyJ
For those affronts they give him yearlyJ
'Tis not denied that when we writeJ
Our ink is black our paper whiteJ
And when we scrawl our paper o'erL
We blacken what was white beforeT
I think this practice only fitJ
For dealers in satiric witJ
But you some white lead ink must getJ
And write on paper black as jetJ
Your interest lies to learn the knackC2
Of whitening what before was blackC2
Thus your encomium to be strongS
Must be applied directly wrongS
A tyrant for his mercy praiseQ
And crown a royal dunce with baysQ
A squinting monkey load with charmsQ
And paint a coward fierce in armsQ
Is he to avarice inclinedJ
Extol him for his generous mindJ
And when we starve for want of cornG
Come out with Amalthea's hornG
For all experience this evincesQ
The only art of pleasing princesQ
For princes' love you should descantJ
On virtues which they know they wantJ
One compliment I had forgotJ
But songsters must omit it notJ
I freely grant the thought is oldJ
Why then your hero must be toldJ
In him such virtues lie inherentJ
To qualify him God's vicegerentJ
That with no title to inheritJ
He must have been a king by meritJ
Yet be the fancy old or newG
Tis partly false and partly trueG
And take it right it means no moreT
Than George and William claim'd beforeT
Should some obscure inferior fellowR
Like Julius or the youth of PellaD2
When all your list of Gods is outJ
Presume to show his mortal snoutJ
And as a Deity intrudeJ
Because he had the world subduedJ
O let him not debase your thoughtsQ
Or name him but to tell his faultsQ
Of Gods I only quote the bestJ
But you may hook in all the restJ
Now birth day bard with joy proceedJ
To praise your empress and her breedJ
First of the first to vouch your liesQ
Bring all the females of the skiesQ
The Graces and their mistress VenusQ
Must venture down to entertain usQ
With bended knees when they adore herL
What dowdies they appear before herL
Nor shall we think you talk at randomE2
For Venus might be her great grandamE2
Six thousand years has lived the GoddessQ
Your heroine hardly fifty odd isQ
Besides your songsters oft have shownG
That she has Graces of her ownG
Three Graces by Lucina brought herL
Just three and every Grace a daughterL
Here many a king his heart and crownG
Shall at their snowy feet lay downG
In royal robes they come by dozensQ
To court their English German cousinsQ
Beside a pair of princely babiesQ
That five years hence will both be HebesQ
Now see her seated in her throneG
With genuine lustre all her ownG
Poor Cynthia never shone so brightJ
Her splendour is but borrow'd lightJ
And only with her brother linktJ
Can shine without him is extinctJ
But Carolina shines the clearerL
With neither spouse nor brother near herL
And darts her beams o'er both our islesQ
Though George is gone a thousand milesQ
Thus Berecynthia takes her placeQ
Attended by her heavenly raceQ
And sees a son in every GodJ
Unawed by Jove's all shaking nodJ
Now sing his little highness FreddyJ
Who struts like any king alreadyJ
With so much beauty show me any maidJ
That could resist this charming GanymedeJ
Where majesty with sweetness viesQ
And like his father early wiseQ
Then cut him out a world of workF2
To conquer Spain and quell the TurkF2
Foretel his empire crown'd with baysQ
And golden times and halcyon daysQ
And swear his line shall rule the nationG
For ever till the conflagrationG
But now it comes into my mindJ
We left a little duke behindJ
A Cupid in his face and sizeQ
And only wants to want his eyesQ
Make some provision for the younkerL
Find him a kingdom out to conquerL
Prepare a fleet to waft him o'erL
Make Gulliver his commodoreT
Into whose pocket valiant Willy putJ
Will soon subdue the realm of LilliputJ
A skilful critic justly blamesQ
Hard tough crank guttural harsh stiff namesQ
The sense can ne'er be too jejuneG
But smooth your words to fit the tuneG
Hanover may do well enoughI
But George and Brunswick are too roughI
Hesse Darmstadt makes a rugged soundJ
And Guelp the strongest ear will woundJ
In vain are all attempts from GermanyG
To find out proper words for harmonyG
And yet I must except the RhineG
Because it clinks to CarolineG
Hail queen of Britain queen of rhymesQ
Be sung ten hundred thousand timesQ
Too happy were the poets' crewG
If their own happiness they knewG
Three syllables did never meetJ
So soft so sliding and so sweetJ
Nine other tuneful words like thatJ
Would prove even Homer's numbers flatJ
Behold three beauteous vowels standJ
With bridegroom liquids hand in handJ
In concord here for ever fix'dJ
No jarring consonant betwixtJ
May Caroline continue longS
For ever fair and young in songS
What though the royal carcass mustJ
Squeezed in a coffin turn to dustJ
Those elements her name composeQ
Like atoms are exempt from blowsQ
Though Caroline may fill your gapsQ
Yet still you must consult your mapsQ
Find rivers with harmonious namesQ
Sabrina Medway and the ThamesQ
Britannia long will wear like steelG2
But Albion's cliffs are out at heelG2
And Patience can endure no moreT
To hear the Belgic lion roarT
Give up the phrase of haughty GaulH2
But proud Iberia soundly maulH2
Restore the ships by Philip takenG
And make him crouch to save his baconG
Nassau who got the name of GloriousQ
Because he never was victoriousQ
A hanger on has always beenG
For old acquaintance bring him inG
To Walpole you might lend a lineG
But much I fear he's in declineG
And if you chance to come too lateJ
When he goes out you share his fateJ
And bear the new successor's frownG
Or whom you once sang up sing downG
Reject with scorn that stupid notionG
To praise your hero for devotionG
Nor entertain a thought so oddJ
That princes should believe in GodJ
But follow the securest ruleI2
And turn it all to ridiculeI2
'Tis grown the choicest wit at courtJ
And gives the maids of honour sportJ
For since they talk'd with Dr ClarkeJ2
They now can venture in the darkJ2
That sound divine the truth has spoke allH2
And pawn'd his word Hell is not localW
This will not give them half the troubleW
Of bargains sold or meanings doubleW
Supposing now your song is doneG
To Mynheer Handel next you runG
Who artfully will pare and pruneG
Your words to some Italian tuneG
Then print it in the largest letterL
With capitals the more the betterL
Present it boldly on your kneeG
And take a guinea for your feeG

Jonathan Swift



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