Riddles By Dr. Swift And His Friends Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEEFFGHIIJKLL MMFFNNAAOOFFPPQQQQQQ EERSTTCUQQVVWWCCQQXX QQYYZZA2YYYTTQQYYB2B 2YYC2C2YYQQQQQQQQD2D 2ZZQQFROM Venus born thy beauty shows | A |
But who thy father no man knows | A |
Nor can the skilful herald trace | B |
The founder of thy ancient race | B |
Whether thy temper full of fire | C |
Discovers Vulcan for thy sire | C |
The god who made Scamander boil | D |
And round his margin singed the soil | D |
From whence philosophers agree | E |
An equal power descends to thee | E |
Whether from dreadful Mars you claim | F |
The high descent from whence you came | F |
And as a proof show numerous scars | G |
By fierce encounters made in wars | H |
Those honourable wounds you bore | I |
From head to foot and all before | I |
And still the bloody field frequent | J |
Familiar in each leader's tent | K |
Or whether as the learn'd contend | L |
You from the neighbouring Gaul descend | L |
Or from Parthenope the proud | M |
Where numberless thy votaries crowd | M |
Whether thy great forefathers came | F |
From realms that bear Vespuccio's name | F |
For so conjectures would obtrude | N |
And from thy painted skin conclude | N |
Whether as Epicurus shows | A |
The world from justling seeds arose | A |
Which mingling with prolific strife | O |
In chaos kindled into life | O |
So your production was the same | F |
And from contending atoms came | F |
Thy fair indulgent mother crown'd | P |
Thy head with sparkling rubies round | P |
Beneath thy decent steps the road | Q |
Is all with precious jewels strew'd | Q |
The bird of Pallas knows his post | Q |
Thee to attend where'er thou goest | Q |
Byzantians boast that on the clod | Q |
Where once their Sultan's horse hath trod | Q |
Grows neither grass nor shrub nor tree | E |
The same thy subjects boast of thee | E |
The greatest lord when you appear | R |
Will deign your livery to wear | S |
In all the various colours seen | T |
Of red and yellow blue and green | T |
With half a word when you require | C |
The man of business must retire | U |
The haughty minister of state | Q |
With trembling must thy leisure wait | Q |
And while his fate is in thy hands | V |
The business of the nation stands | V |
Thou darest the greatest prince attack | W |
Canst hourly set him on the rack | W |
And as an instance of thy power | C |
Enclose him in a wooden tower | C |
With pungent pains on every side | Q |
So Regulus in torments died | Q |
From thee our youth all virtues learn | X |
Dangers with prudence to discern | X |
And well thy scholars are endued | Q |
With temperance and with fortitude | Q |
With patience which all ills supports | Y |
And secrecy the art of courts | Y |
The glittering beau could hardly tell | Z |
Without your aid to read or spell | Z |
But having long conversed with you | A2 |
Knows how to scroll a billet doux | Y |
With what delight methinks I trace | Y |
Your blood in every noble race | Y |
In whom thy features shape and mien | T |
Are to the life distinctly seen | T |
The Britons once a savage kind | Q |
By you were brighten'd and refined | Q |
Descendants to the barbarous Huns | Y |
With limbs robust and voice that stuns | Y |
But you have moulded them afresh | B2 |
Removed the tough superfluous flesh | B2 |
Taught them to modulate their tongues | Y |
And speak without the help of lungs | Y |
Proteus on you bestow'd the boon | C2 |
To change your visage like the moon | C2 |
You sometimes half a face produce | Y |
Keep t'other half for private use | Y |
How famed thy conduct in the fight | Q |
With Hermes son of Pleias bright | Q |
Outnumber'd half encompass'd round | Q |
You strove for every inch of ground | Q |
Then by a soldierly retreat | Q |
Retired to your imperial seat | Q |
The victor when your steps he traced | Q |
Found all the realms before him waste | Q |
You o'er the high triumphal arch | D2 |
Pontific made your glorious march | D2 |
The wondrous arch behind you fell | Z |
And left a chasm profound as hell | Z |
You in your capitol secured | Q |
A siege as long as Troy endured | Q |
Jonathan Swift
(1)
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