The Gulf Of All Human Possessions Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEFGGHHBBIIHH JJKKLLMMNNOOPPQQRSHH TTHHBBUUVVWWMMHHHHJX YYZZA2A2B2B2JJA2A2A2 A2C2C2A2A2HHHHD2D2A2 A2HHHHHHE2E2HHCome hither and behold the fruits | A |
Vain man of all thy vain pursuits | A |
Take wise advice and look behind | B |
Bring all past actions to thy mind | B |
Here you may see as in a glass | C |
How soon all human pleasures pass | C |
How will it mortify thy pride | D |
To turn the true impartial side | D |
How will your eyes contain their tears | E |
When all the sad reverse appears | F |
This cave within its womb confines | G |
The last result of all designs | G |
Here lie deposited the spoils | H |
Of busy mortals' endless toils | H |
Here with an easy search we find | B |
The foul corruptions of mankind | B |
The wretched purchase here behold | I |
Of traitors who their country sold | I |
This gulf insatiate imbibes | H |
The lawyer's fees the statesman's bribes | H |
Here in their proper shape and mien | J |
Fraud perjury and guilt are seen | J |
Necessity the tyrant's law | K |
All human race must hither draw | K |
All prompted by the same desire | L |
The vigorous youth and aged sire | L |
Behold the coward and the brave | M |
The haughty prince the humble slave | M |
Physician lawyer and divine | N |
All make oblations at this shrine | N |
Some enter boldly some by stealth | O |
And leave behind their fruitless wealth | O |
For while the bashful sylvan maid | P |
As half ashamed and half afraid | P |
Approaching finds it hard to part | Q |
With that which dwelt so near her heart | Q |
The courtly dame unmoved by fear | R |
Profusely pours her offering here | S |
A treasure here of learning lurks | H |
Huge heaps of never dying works | H |
Labours of many an ancient sage | T |
And millions of the present age | T |
In at this gulf all offerings pass | H |
And lie an undistinguish'd mass | H |
Deucalion to restore mankind | B |
Was bid to throw the stones behind | B |
So those who here their gifts convey | U |
Are forced to look another way | U |
For few a chosen few must know | V |
The mysteries that lie below | V |
Sad charnel house a dismal dome | W |
For which all mortals leave their home | W |
The young the beautiful and brave | M |
Here buried in one common grave | M |
Where each supply of dead renews | H |
Unwholesome damps offensive dews | H |
And lo the writing on the walls | H |
Points out where each new victim falls | H |
The food of worms and beasts obscene | J |
Who round the vault luxuriant reign | X |
See where those mangled corpses lie | Y |
Condemn'd by female hands to die | Y |
A comely dame once clad in white | Z |
Lies there consign'd to endless night | Z |
By cruel hands her blood was spilt | A2 |
And yet her wealth was all her guilt | A2 |
And here six virgins in a tomb | B2 |
All beauteous offspring of one womb | B2 |
Oft in the train of Venus seen | J |
As fair and lovely as their queen | J |
In royal garments each was drest | A2 |
Each with a gold and purple vest | A2 |
I saw them of their garments stript | A2 |
Their throats were cut their bellies ript | A2 |
Twice were they buried twice were born | C2 |
Twice from their sepulchres were torn | C2 |
But now dismember'd here are cast | A2 |
And find a resting place at last | A2 |
Here oft the curious traveller finds | H |
The combat of opposing winds | H |
And seeks to learn the secret cause | H |
Which alien seems from nature's laws | H |
Why at this cave's tremendous mouth | D2 |
He feels at once both north and south | D2 |
Whether the winds in caverns pent | A2 |
Through clefts oppugnant force a vent | A2 |
Or whether opening all his stores | H |
Fierce AEolus in tempest roars | H |
Yet from this mingled mass of things | H |
In time a new creation springs | H |
These crude materials once shall rise | H |
To fill the earth and air and skies | H |
In various forms appear again | E2 |
Of vegetables brutes and men | E2 |
So Jove pronounced among the gods | H |
Olympus trembling as he nods | H |
Jonathan Swift
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about The Gulf Of All Human Possessions poem by Jonathan Swift
Best Poems of Jonathan Swift