To Mr. Delany,[1] Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A BBCCDDEEFFGGHHDDIIJJ KKLLMNOOPPQQRRSSTTUU VVWWDDXXYYZA2JJB2B2C 2C2D2D2E2E2F2F2AAG2G 2H2H2I2I2J2K2K2K2L2L 2D2EM2M2K2K2BBK2K2PP K2K2H2H2H2H2K2K2TTH2 H2K2K2H2H2H2H2H2H2N2 N2

OCT NINE IN THE MORNINGA
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To you whose virtues I must ownB
With shame I have too lately knownB
To you by art and nature taughtC
To be the man I long have soughtC
Had not ill Fate perverse and blindD
Placed you in life too far behindD
Or what I should repine at moreE
Placed me in life too far beforeE
To you the Muse this verse bestowsF
Which might as well have been in proseF
No thought no fancy no sublimeG
But simple topics told in rhymeG
Three gifts for conversation fitH
Are humour raillery and witH
The last as boundless as the windD
Is well conceived though not definedD
For sure by wit is only meantI
Applying what we first inventI
What humour is not all the tribeJ
Of logic mongers can describeJ
Here only nature acts her partK
Unhelp'd by practice books or artK
For wit and humour differ quiteL
That gives surprise and this delightL
Humour is odd grotesque and wildM
Only by affectation spoil'dN
'Tis never by invention gotO
Men have it when they know it notO
Our conversation to refineP
True humour must with wit combineP
From both we learn to rally wellQ
Wherein French writers most excelQ
Voiture in various lights displaysR
That irony which turns to praiseR
His genius first found out the ruleS
For an obliging ridiculeS
He flatters with peculiar airT
The brave the witty and the fairT
And fools would fancy he intendsU
A satire where he most commendsU
But as a poor pretending beauV
Because he fain would make a showV
Nor can afford to buy gold laceW
Takes up with copper in the placeW
So the pert dunces of mankindD
Whene'er they would be thought refinedD
Because the diff'rence lies abstruseX
'Twixt raillery and gross abuseX
To show their parts will scold and railY
Like porters o'er a pot of aleY
Such is that clan of boisterous bearsZ
Always together by the earsA2
Shrewd fellows and arch wags a tribeJ
That meet for nothing but to gibeJ
Who first run one another downB2
And then fall foul on all the townB2
Skill'd in the horse laugh and dry rubC2
And call'd by excellence The ClubC2
I mean your butler Dawson CarD2
All special friends and always jarD2
The mettled and the vicious steedE2
Do not more differ in their breedE2
Nay Voiture is as like Tom LeighF2
As rudeness is to reparteeF2
If what you said I wish unspokeA
'Twill not suffice it was a jokeA
Reproach not though in jest a friendG2
For those defects he cannot mendG2
His lineage calling shape or senseH2
If named with scorn gives just offenceH2
What use in life to make men fretI2
Part in worse humour than they metI2
Thus all society is lostJ2
Men laugh at one another's costK2
And half the company is teazedK2
That came together to be pleasedK2
For all buffoons have most in viewL2
To please themselves by vexing youL2
When jests are carried on too farD2
And the loud laugh begins the warE
You keep your countenance for shameM2
Yet still you think your friend to blameM2
For though men cry they love a jestK2
'Tis but when others stand the testK2
And would you have their meaning knownB
They love a jest when 'tis their ownB
You wonder now to see me writeK2
So gravely where the subject's lightK2
Some part of what I here designP
Regards a friend of yours and mineP
Who full of humour fire and witK2
Not always judges what is fitK2
But loves to take prodigious roundsH2
And sometimes walks beyond his boundsH2
You must although the point be niceH2
Venture to give him some adviceH2
Few hints from you will set him rightK2
And teach him how to be politeK2
Bid him like you observe with careT
Whom to be hard on whom to spareT
Nor indiscreetly to supposeH2
All subjects like Dan Jackson's noseH2
To study the obliging jestK2
By reading those who teach it bestK2
For prose I recommend Voiture'sH2
For verse I speak my judgment yoursH2
He'll find the secret out from thenceH2
To rhyme all day without offenceH2
And I no more shall then accuseH2
The flirts of his ill manner'd MuseH2
If he be guilty you must mend himN2
If he be innocent defend himN2

Jonathan Swift



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