Book I - Part 03 - The Void Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNHOPQRS BTUVWXYZA2B2C2ED2E2F 2G2H2I2J2K2BL2M2N2O2 P2Q2R2L2S2T2U2V2GSW2 D2S2X2QY2KOBZ2A3B3C3 D3E3EF3G3S2H3H3E2I3J 3MK3O2 L3M3N3N3R2O3P3Q3R3S3 T3S2U3V3H3N2W3X3Y3Z3 A4But yet creation's neither crammed nor blocked | A |
About by body there's in things a void | B |
Which to have known will serve thee many a turn | C |
Nor will not leave thee wandering in doubt | D |
Forever searching in the sum of all | E |
And losing faith in these pronouncements mine | F |
There's place intangible a void and room | G |
For were it not things could in nowise move | H |
Since body's property to block and check | I |
Would work on all and at an times the same | J |
Thus naught could evermore push forth and go | K |
Since naught elsewhere would yield a starting place | L |
But now through oceans lands and heights of heaven | M |
By divers causes and in divers modes | N |
Before our eyes we mark how much may move | H |
Which finding not a void would fail deprived | O |
Of stir and motion nay would then have been | P |
Nowise begot at all since matter then | Q |
Had staid at rest its parts together crammed | R |
Then too however solid objects seem | S |
They yet are formed of matter mixed with void | B |
In rocks and caves the watery moisture seeps | T |
And beady drops stand out like plenteous tears | U |
And food finds way through every frame that lives | V |
The trees increase and yield the season's fruit | W |
Because their food throughout the whole is poured | X |
Even from the deepest roots through trunks and boughs | Y |
And voices pass the solid walls and fly | Z |
Reverberant through shut doorways of a house | A2 |
And stiffening frost seeps inward to our bones | B2 |
Which but for voids for bodies to go through | C2 |
'Tis clear could happen in nowise at all | E |
Again why see we among objects some | D2 |
Of heavier weight but of no bulkier size | E2 |
Indeed if in a ball of wool there be | F2 |
As much of body as in lump of lead | G2 |
The two should weigh alike since body tends | H2 |
To load things downward while the void abides | I2 |
By contrary nature the imponderable | J2 |
Therefore an object just as large but lighter | K2 |
Declares infallibly its more of void | B |
Even as the heavier more of matter shows | L2 |
And how much less of vacant room inside | M2 |
That which we're seeking with sagacious quest | N2 |
Exists infallibly commixed with things | O2 |
The void the invisible inane | P2 |
Right here | Q2 |
I am compelled a question to expound | R2 |
Forestalling something certain folk suppose | L2 |
Lest it avail to lead thee off from truth | S2 |
Waters they say before the shining breed | T2 |
Of the swift scaly creatures somehow give | U2 |
And straightway open sudden liquid paths | V2 |
Because the fishes leave behind them room | G |
To which at once the yielding billows stream | S |
Thus things among themselves can yet be moved | W2 |
And change their place however full the Sum | D2 |
Received opinion wholly false forsooth | S2 |
For where can scaly creatures forward dart | X2 |
Save where the waters give them room Again | Q |
Where can the billows yield a way so long | Y2 |
As ever the fish are powerless to go | K |
Thus either all bodies of motion are deprived | O |
Or things contain admixture of a void | B |
Where each thing gets its start in moving on | Z2 |
Lastly where after impact two broad bodies | A3 |
Suddenly spring apart the air must crowd | B3 |
The whole new void between those bodies formed | C3 |
But air however it stream with hastening gusts | D3 |
Can yet not fill the gap at once for first | E3 |
It makes for one place ere diffused through all | E |
And then if haply any think this comes | F3 |
When bodies spring apart because the air | G3 |
Somehow condenses wander they from truth | S2 |
For then a void is formed where none before | H3 |
And too a void is filled which was before | H3 |
Nor can air be condensed in such a wise | E2 |
Nor granting it could without a void I hold | I3 |
It still could not contract upon itself | J3 |
And draw its parts together into one | M |
Wherefore despite demur and counter speech | K3 |
Confess thou must there is a void in things | O2 |
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And still I might by many an argument | L3 |
Here scrape together credence for my words | M3 |
But for the keen eye these mere footprints serve | N3 |
Whereby thou mayest know the rest thyself | N3 |
As dogs full oft with noses on the ground | R2 |
Find out the silent lairs though hid in brush | O3 |
Of beasts the mountain rangers when but once | P3 |
They scent the certain footsteps of the way | Q3 |
Thus thou thyself in themes like these alone | R3 |
Can hunt from thought to thought and keenly wind | S3 |
Along even onward to the secret places | T3 |
And drag out truth But if thou loiter loth | S2 |
Or veer however little from the point | U3 |
This I can promise Memmius for a fact | V3 |
Such copious drafts my singing tongue shall pour | H3 |
From the large well springs of my plenished breast | N2 |
That much I dread slow age will steal and coil | W3 |
Along our members and unloose the gates | X3 |
Of life within us ere for thee my verse | Y3 |
Hath put within thine ears the stores of proofs | Z3 |
At hand for one soever question broached | A4 |
Lucretius
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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