The Virtues Of Sid Hamet The Magician-s Rod Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEEFFGGHHIIJJKLMM NNMMOOEEPPQRSSTTMMMM UUVVWWXXYYZZA2A2B2B2 C2C2FFQQMMD2D2E2E2F2 PG2G2H2B2I2I2J2J2K2K 2MMLKMM| The rod was but a harmless wand | A |
| While Moses held it in his hand | B |
| But soon as e'er he laid it down | C |
| Twas a devouring serpent grown | D |
| Our great magician Hamet Sid | E |
| Reverses what the prophet did | E |
| His rod was honest English wood | F |
| That senseless in a corner stood | F |
| Till metamorphos'd by his grasp | G |
| It grew an all devouring asp | G |
| Would hiss and sting and roll and twist | H |
| By the mere virtue of his fist | H |
| But when he laid it down as quick | I |
| Resum'd the figure of a stick | I |
| So to her midnight feasts the hag | J |
| Rides on a broomstick for a nag | J |
| That rais'd by magic of her breech | K |
| O'er sea and land conveys the witch | L |
| But with the morning dawn resumes | M |
| The peaceful state of common brooms | M |
| They tell us something strange and odd | N |
| About a certain magic rod | N |
| That bending down its top divines | M |
| Whene'er the soil has golden mines | M |
| Where there are none it stands erect | O |
| Scorning to show the least respect | O |
| As ready was the wand of Sid | E |
| To bend where golden mines were hid | E |
| In Scottish hills found precious ore | P |
| Where none e'er look'd for it before | P |
| And by a gentle bow divine | Q |
| How well a cully's purse was lined | R |
| To a forlorn and broken rake | S |
| Stood without motion like a stake | S |
| The rod of Hermes was renown'd | T |
| For charms above and under ground | T |
| To sleep could mortal eyelids fix | M |
| And drive departed souls to Styx | M |
| That rod was a just type of Sid's | M |
| Which o'er a British senate's lids | M |
| Could scatter opium full as well | U |
| And drive as many souls to hell | U |
| Sid's rod was slender white and tall | V |
| Which oft he used to fish withal | V |
| A PLACE was fasten'd to the hook | W |
| And many score of gudgeons took | W |
| Yet still so happy was his fate | X |
| He caught his fish and sav'd his bait | X |
| Sid's brethren of the conj'ring tribe | Y |
| A circle with their rod describe | Y |
| Which proves a magical redoubt | Z |
| To keep mischievous spirits out | Z |
| Sid's rod was of a larger stride | A2 |
| And made a circle thrice as wide | A2 |
| Where spirits throng'd with hideous din | B2 |
| And he stood there to take them in | B2 |
| But when th'enchanted rod was broke | C2 |
| They vanish'd in a stinking smoke | C2 |
| Achilles' sceptre was of wood | F |
| Like Sid's but nothing near so good | F |
| Though down from ancestors divine | Q |
| Transmitted to the heroes line | Q |
| Thence thro' a long descent of kings | M |
| Came an HEIRLOOM as Homer sings | M |
| Though this description looks so big | D2 |
| That sceptre was a sapless twig | D2 |
| Which from the fatal day when first | E2 |
| It left the forest where 'twas nurs'd | E2 |
| As Homer tells us o'er and o'er | F2 |
| Nor leaf nor fruit nor blossom bore | P |
| Sid's sceptre full of juice did shoot | G2 |
| In golden boughs and golden fruit | G2 |
| And he the dragon never sleeping | H2 |
| Guarded each fair Hesperian Pippin | B2 |
| No hobby horse with gorgeous top | I2 |
| The dearest in Charles Mather's shop | I2 |
| Or glittering tinsel of May Fair | J2 |
| Could with this rod of Sid compare | J2 |
| Dear Sid then why wert thou so mad | K2 |
| To break thy rod like naughty lad | K2 |
| You should have kiss'd it in your distress | M |
| And then return'd it to your mistress | M |
| Or made it a Newmarket switch | L |
| And not a rod for thine own breech | K |
| But since old Sid has broken this | M |
| His next may be a rod in piss | M |
Jonathan Swift
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about The Virtues Of Sid Hamet The Magician-s Rod poem by Jonathan Swift
Best Poems of Jonathan Swift