Stella's Birth-day: Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BBCCDDEEFFGGHHBBIIJJ KKLLMMNOHHPPQQRRIISS TUVVIIWWXXYYZZA2A2SS QQB2B2JJC2C2IITTD2D2 E2E2F2F2G2G2JJ| A GREAT BOTTLE OF WINE LONG BURIED BEING THAT DAY DUG UP | A |
| - | |
| - | |
| Resolv'd my annual verse to pay | B |
| By duty bound on Stella's day | B |
| Furnish'd with paper pens and ink | C |
| I gravely sat me down to think | C |
| I bit my nails and scratch'd my head | D |
| But found my wit and fancy fled | D |
| Or if with more than usual pain | E |
| A thought came slowly from my brain | E |
| It cost me Lord knows how much time | F |
| To shape it into sense and rhyme | F |
| And what was yet a greater curse | G |
| Long thinking made my fancy worse | G |
| Forsaken by th'inspiring Nine | H |
| I waited at Apollo's shrine | H |
| I told him what the world would say | B |
| If Stella were unsung to day | B |
| How I should hide my head for shame | I |
| When both the Jacks and Robin came | I |
| How Ford would frown how Jim would leer | J |
| How Sheridan the rogue would sneer | J |
| And swear it does not always follow | K |
| That semel'n anno ridet Apollo | K |
| I have assur'd them twenty times | L |
| That Phoebus help'd me in my rhymes | L |
| Phoebus inspired me from above | M |
| And he and I were hand and glove | M |
| But finding me so dull and dry since | N |
| They'll call it all poetic license | O |
| And when I brag of aid divine | H |
| Think Eusden's right as good as mine | H |
| Nor do I ask for Stella's sake | P |
| 'Tis my own credit lies at stake | P |
| And Stella will be sung while I | Q |
| Can only be a stander by | Q |
| Apollo having thought a little | R |
| Return'd this answer to a tittle | R |
| Though you should live like old Methusalem | I |
| I furnish hints and you shall use all 'em | I |
| You yearly sing as she grows old | S |
| You'd leave her virtues half untold | S |
| But to say truth such dulness reigns | T |
| Through the whole set of Irish deans | U |
| I'm daily stunn'd with such a medley | V |
| Dean White Dean Daniel and Dean Smedley | V |
| That let what dean soever come | I |
| My orders are I'm not at home | I |
| And if your voice had not been loud | W |
| You must have pass'd among the crowd | W |
| But now your danger to prevent | X |
| You must apply to Mrs Brent | X |
| For she as priestess knows the rites | Y |
| Wherein the god of earth delights | Y |
| First nine ways looking let her stand | Z |
| With an old poker in her hand | Z |
| Let her describe a circle round | A2 |
| In Saunders' cellar on the ground | A2 |
| A spade let prudent Archy hold | S |
| And with discretion dig the mould | S |
| Let Stella look with watchful eye | Q |
| Rebecca Ford and Grattans by | Q |
| Behold the bottle where it lies | B2 |
| With neck elated toward the skies | B2 |
| The god of winds and god of fire | J |
| Did to its wondrous birth conspire | J |
| And Bacchus for the poet's use | C2 |
| Pour'd in a strong inspiring juice | C2 |
| See as you raise it from its tomb | I |
| It drags behind a spacious womb | I |
| And in the spacious womb contains | T |
| A sov'reign med'cine for the brains | T |
| You'll find it soon if fate consents | D2 |
| If not a thousand Mrs Brents | D2 |
| Ten thousand Archys arm'd with spades | E2 |
| May dig in vain to Pluto's shades | E2 |
| From thence a plenteous draught infuse | F2 |
| And boldly then invoke the Muse | F2 |
| But first let Robert on his knees | G2 |
| With caution drain it from the lees | G2 |
| The Muse will at your call appear | J |
| With Stella's praise to crown the year | J |
Jonathan Swift
(1)
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