Elegy On Partridge Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDEFFGGHHIIJJKK LLLLMMNNOOOOOOPPOOOO KKKKOOOOKKQQRRKKOOST UUGGBBRRVVKKWWOOXXKK BBOOOOBBYYBBZZ A2 B2B2C2C2OOD2D2BBRRE2 E2Well 'tis as Bickerstaff has guess'd | A |
Though we all took it for a jest | A |
Partridge is dead nay more he died | B |
Ere he could prove the good 'squire lied | B |
Strange an astrologer should die | C |
Without one wonder in the sky | C |
Not one of his crony stars | D |
To pay their duty at his hearse | E |
No meteor no eclipse appear'd | F |
No comet with a flaming beard | F |
The sun has rose and gone to bed | G |
Just as if Partridge were not dead | G |
Nor hid himself behind the moon | H |
To make a dreadful night at noon | H |
He at fit periods walks through Aries | I |
Howe'er our earthly motion varies | I |
And twice a year he'll cut the equator | J |
As if there had been no such matter | J |
Some wits have wonder'd what analogy | K |
There is 'twixt cobbling and astrology | K |
How Partridge made his optics rise | L |
From a shoe sole to reach the skies | L |
A list the cobbler's temples ties | L |
To keep the hair out of his eyes | L |
From whence 'tis plain the diadem | M |
That princes wear derives from them | M |
And therefore crowns are nowadays | N |
Adorn'd with golden stars and rays | N |
Which plainly shows the near alliance | O |
'Twixt cobbling and the planets science | O |
Besides that slow pac'd sign Bootes | O |
As 'tis miscall'd we know not who 'tis | O |
But Partridge ended all disputes | O |
He knew his trade and call'd it boots | O |
The horned moon which heretofore | P |
Upon their shoes the Romans wore | P |
Whose wideness kept their toes from corns | O |
And whence we claim our shoeing horns | O |
Shows how the art of cobbling bears | O |
A near resemblance to the spheres | O |
A scrap of parchment hung by geometry | K |
A great refinement in barometry | K |
Can like the stars foretell the weather | K |
And what is parchment else but leather | K |
Which an astrologer might use | O |
Either for almanacs or shoes | O |
Thus Partridge by his wit and parts | O |
At once did practise both these arts | O |
And as the boding owl or rather | K |
The bat because her wings are leather | K |
Steals from her private cell by night | Q |
And flies about the candle light | Q |
So learned Partridge could as well | R |
Creep in the dark from leathern cell | R |
And in his fancy fly as far | K |
To peep upon a twinkling star | K |
Besides he could confound the spheres | O |
And set the planets by the ears | O |
To show his skill he Mars could join | S |
To Venus in aspect malign | T |
Then call in Mercury for aid | U |
And cure the wounds that Venus made | U |
Great scholars have in Lucian read | G |
When Philip king of Greece was dead | G |
His soul and spirit did divide | B |
And each part took a different side | B |
One rose a star the other fell | R |
Beneath and mended shoes in hell | R |
Thus Partridge still shines in each art | V |
The cobbling and star gazing part | V |
And is install'd as good a star | K |
As any of the Caesars are | K |
Triumphant star some pity show | W |
On cobblers militant below | W |
Whom roguish boys in stormy nights | O |
Torment by pissing out their lights | O |
Or thro' a chink convey their smoke | X |
Inclos'd artificers to choke | X |
Thou high exalted in thy sphere | K |
May'st follow still thy calling there | K |
To thee the Bull will lend his hide | B |
By Phoebus newly tann'd and dry'd | B |
For thee they Argo's hulk will tax | O |
And scrape her pitchy sides for wax | O |
Then Ariadne kindly lends | O |
Her braided hair to make thee ends | O |
The point of Sagittarius' dart | B |
Turns to an awl by heav'nly art | B |
And Vulcan wheedled by his wife | Y |
Will forge for thee a paring knife | Y |
For want of room by Virgo's side | B |
She'll strain a point and sit astride | B |
To take thee kindly in between | Z |
And then the signs will be thirteen | Z |
- | |
- | |
THE EPITAPH | A2 |
- | |
Here five foot deep lies on his back | B2 |
A cobbler star monger and quack | B2 |
Who to the stars in pure good will | C2 |
Does to his best look upward still | C2 |
Weep all you customers that use | O |
His pills his almanacs or shoes | O |
And you that did your fortunes seek | D2 |
Step to his grave but once a week | D2 |
This earth which bears his body's print | B |
You'll find has so much virtue in't | B |
That I durst pawn my ears 't will tell | R |
Whate'er concerns you full as well | R |
In physic stolen goods or love | E2 |
As he himself could when above | E2 |
Jonathan Swift
(1)
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