The Logicians Refuted Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHEEII JJAAKKLLCCMMLLCCCCNN OODDCCPPCCQQCCRRSS| Logicians have but ill defined | A |
| As rational the human kind | A |
| Reason they say belongs to man | B |
| But let them prove it if they can | B |
| Wise Aristotle and Smiglesius | C |
| By ratiocinations specious | C |
| Have strove to prove with great precision | D |
| With definition and division | D |
| Homo est ratione praeditum | E |
| But for my soul I cannot credit 'em | E |
| And must in spite of them maintain | F |
| That man and all his ways are vain | F |
| And that this boasted lord of nature | G |
| Is both a weak and erring creature | G |
| That instinct is a surer guide | H |
| Than reason boasting mortals' pride | H |
| And that brute beasts are far before 'em | E |
| Deus est anima brutorum | E |
| Whoever knew an honest brute | I |
| At law his neighbour prosecute | I |
| Bring action for assault or battery | J |
| Or friend beguile with lies and flattery | J |
| O'er plains they ramble unconfined | A |
| No politics disturb their mind | A |
| They eat their meals and take their sport | K |
| Nor know who's in or out at court | K |
| They never to the levee go | L |
| To treat as dearest friend a foe | L |
| They never importune his grace | C |
| Nor ever cringe to men in place | C |
| Nor undertake a dirty job | M |
| Nor draw the quill to write for Bob | M |
| Fraught with invective they ne'er go | L |
| To folks at Paternoster Row | L |
| No judges fiddlers dancing masters | C |
| No pickpockets or poetasters | C |
| Are known to honest quadrupeds | C |
| No single brute his fellow leads | C |
| Brutes never meet in bloody fray | N |
| Nor cut each other's throats for pay | N |
| Of beasts it is confess'd the ape | O |
| Comes nearest us in human shape | O |
| Like man he imitates each fashion | D |
| And malice is his lurking passion | D |
| But both in malice and grimaces | C |
| A courtier any ape surpasses | C |
| Behold him humbly cringing wait | P |
| Upon the minister of state | P |
| View him soon after to inferiors | C |
| Aping the conduct of superiors | C |
| He promises with equal air | Q |
| And to perform takes equal care | Q |
| He in his turn finds imitators | C |
| At court the porters lacqueys waiters | C |
| Their masters' manner still contract | R |
| And footmen lords and dukes can act | R |
| Thus at the court both great and small | S |
| Behave alike for all ape all | S |
Jonathan Swift
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