Elegy On Partridge Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDEFFGGHHIIJJKK LLLLMMNNOOOOOOPPOOOO KKKKOOOOKKQQRRKKOOST UUGGBBRRVVKKWWOOXXKK BBOOOOBBYYBBZZ A2 B2B2C2C2OOD2D2BBRRE2 E2

Well 'tis as Bickerstaff has guess'dA
Though we all took it for a jestA
Partridge is dead nay more he diedB
Ere he could prove the good 'squire liedB
Strange an astrologer should dieC
Without one wonder in the skyC
Not one of his crony starsD
To pay their duty at his hearseE
No meteor no eclipse appear'dF
No comet with a flaming beardF
The sun has rose and gone to bedG
Just as if Partridge were not deadG
Nor hid himself behind the moonH
To make a dreadful night at noonH
He at fit periods walks through AriesI
Howe'er our earthly motion variesI
And twice a year he'll cut the equatorJ
As if there had been no such matterJ
Some wits have wonder'd what analogyK
There is 'twixt cobbling and astrologyK
How Partridge made his optics riseL
From a shoe sole to reach the skiesL
A list the cobbler's temples tiesL
To keep the hair out of his eyesL
From whence 'tis plain the diademM
That princes wear derives from themM
And therefore crowns are nowadaysN
Adorn'd with golden stars and raysN
Which plainly shows the near allianceO
'Twixt cobbling and the planets scienceO
Besides that slow pac'd sign BootesO
As 'tis miscall'd we know not who 'tisO
But Partridge ended all disputesO
He knew his trade and call'd it bootsO
The horned moon which heretoforeP
Upon their shoes the Romans woreP
Whose wideness kept their toes from cornsO
And whence we claim our shoeing hornsO
Shows how the art of cobbling bearsO
A near resemblance to the spheresO
A scrap of parchment hung by geometryK
A great refinement in barometryK
Can like the stars foretell the weatherK
And what is parchment else but leatherK
Which an astrologer might useO
Either for almanacs or shoesO
Thus Partridge by his wit and partsO
At once did practise both these artsO
And as the boding owl or ratherK
The bat because her wings are leatherK
Steals from her private cell by nightQ
And flies about the candle lightQ
So learned Partridge could as wellR
Creep in the dark from leathern cellR
And in his fancy fly as farK
To peep upon a twinkling starK
Besides he could confound the spheresO
And set the planets by the earsO
To show his skill he Mars could joinS
To Venus in aspect malignT
Then call in Mercury for aidU
And cure the wounds that Venus madeU
Great scholars have in Lucian readG
When Philip king of Greece was deadG
His soul and spirit did divideB
And each part took a different sideB
One rose a star the other fellR
Beneath and mended shoes in hellR
Thus Partridge still shines in each artV
The cobbling and star gazing partV
And is install'd as good a starK
As any of the Caesars areK
Triumphant star some pity showW
On cobblers militant belowW
Whom roguish boys in stormy nightsO
Torment by pissing out their lightsO
Or thro' a chink convey their smokeX
Inclos'd artificers to chokeX
Thou high exalted in thy sphereK
May'st follow still thy calling thereK
To thee the Bull will lend his hideB
By Phoebus newly tann'd and dry'dB
For thee they Argo's hulk will taxO
And scrape her pitchy sides for waxO
Then Ariadne kindly lendsO
Her braided hair to make thee endsO
The point of Sagittarius' dartB
Turns to an awl by heav'nly artB
And Vulcan wheedled by his wifeY
Will forge for thee a paring knifeY
For want of room by Virgo's sideB
She'll strain a point and sit astrideB
To take thee kindly in betweenZ
And then the signs will be thirteenZ
-
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THE EPITAPHA2
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Here five foot deep lies on his backB2
A cobbler star monger and quackB2
Who to the stars in pure good willC2
Does to his best look upward stillC2
Weep all you customers that useO
His pills his almanacs or shoesO
And you that did your fortunes seekD2
Step to his grave but once a weekD2
This earth which bears his body's printB
You'll find has so much virtue in'tB
That I durst pawn my ears 't will tellR
Whate'er concerns you full as wellR
In physic stolen goods or loveE2
As he himself could when aboveE2

Jonathan Swift



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