Hymn To Cheerfulness Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGGHHII CCJJKKFFLLMM NNOOPPQQRRSSTTUUVVLL WW XXYYEFZZTTA2B2 C2C2PPCCD2D2E2E2HHF2 F2 G2G2RRNNH2H2JJI2I2J2 O NK2L2G2QQ M2M2N2N2O2P2IIQ2Q2CD R2R2LLS2S2T2T2E2E2U2 U2HHV2V2H2H2W2W2X2X2 IIQ2Q2Y2CZ2A3NNLL X2X2B3B3KK CCC3C3A3Z2D3E3QQS2S2 F3F3G3KUUHow thick the shades of evening close | A |
How pale the sky with weight of snows | B |
Haste light the tapers urge the fire | C |
And bid the joyless day retire | D |
Alas in vain I try within | E |
To brighten the dejected scene | F |
While rouz'd by grief these fiery pains | G |
Tear the frail texture of my veins | G |
While winter's voice that storms around | H |
And yon deep death bell's groaning sound | H |
Renew my mind's oppressive gloom | I |
Till starting horror shakes the room | I |
- | |
Is there in nature no kind power | C |
To sooth affliction's lonely hour | C |
To blunt the edge of dire disease | J |
And teach these wintry shades to please | J |
Come Cheerfulness triumphant fair | K |
Shine through the hovering cloud of care | K |
O sweet of language mild of mien | F |
O virtue's friend and pleasure's queen | F |
Asswage the flames that burn my breast | L |
Compose my jarring thoughts to rest | L |
And while thy gracious gifts i feel | M |
My song shall all thy praise reveal | M |
- | |
As once 'twas in Astrea's reign | N |
The vernal powers renew'd their train | N |
It happen'd that immortal Love | O |
Was ranging through the spheres above | O |
And downward hither cast his eye | P |
The year's returning pomp to spy | P |
He saw the radiant god of day | Q |
Waft in his car the rosy May | Q |
The fragrant Airs and genial Hours | R |
Were shedding round him dews and flowers | R |
Before his wheels Aurora pass'd | S |
And Hesper's golden lamp was last | S |
But fairest of the blooming throng | T |
When Health majestic mov'd along | T |
Delighted to survey below | U |
The joys which from her presence flow | U |
While earth enliven'd hears her voice | V |
And swains and flocks and fields rejoice | V |
Then mighty Love her charms confess'd | L |
And soon his vows inclin'd her breast | L |
And known from that auspicious morn | W |
The pleasing Cheerfulness was born | W |
- | |
Thou Cheerfulness by heaven design'd | X |
To sway the movements of the mind | X |
Whatever fretful passion springs | Y |
Whatever wayward fortune brings | Y |
To disarrange the power within | E |
And strain the musical machine | F |
Thou Goddess thy attempering hand | Z |
Doth each discordant string command | Z |
Refines the soft and swells the strong | T |
And joining nature's general song | T |
Through many a varying tone unfolds | A2 |
The harmony of human souls | B2 |
- | |
Fair guardian of domestic life | C2 |
Kind banisher of homebred strife | C2 |
Nor sullen lip nor taunting eye | P |
Deforms the scene where thou art by | P |
No sickening husband damns the hour | C |
Which bound his joys to female power | C |
No pining mother weeps the cares | D2 |
Which parents waste on thankless heirs | D2 |
The officious daughters pleas'd attend | E2 |
The brother adds the name of friend | E2 |
By thee with flowers their board is crown'd | H |
With songs from thee their walks resound | H |
And morn with welcome lustre shines | F2 |
And evening unperceiv'd declines | F2 |
- | |
Is there a youth whose anxious heart | G2 |
Labors with love's unpitied smart | G2 |
Though now he stray by rills and bowers | R |
And weeping waste the lonely hours | R |
Or if the nymph her audience deign | N |
Debase the story of his pain | N |
With slavish looks discolor'd eyes | H2 |
And accents faltering into sighs | H2 |
Yet thou auspicious power with ease | J |
Can'st yield him happier arts to please | J |
Inform his mien with manlier charms | I2 |
Instruct his tongue with nobler arms | I2 |
With more commanding passion move | J2 |
And teach the dignity of love | O |
- | |
Friend to the Muse and all her train | N |
For thee I court the Muse again | K2 |
The Muse for thee may well exert | L2 |
Her pomp her charms her fondest art | G2 |
Who owes to thee that pleasing sway | Q |
Which earth and peopled heaven obey | Q |
- | |
Let melancholy's plaintive tongue | M2 |
Repeat what later bards have sung | M2 |
But thine was Homer's ancient might | N2 |
And thine victorious Pindar's flight | N2 |
Thy hand each Lesbian wreathe attir'd | O2 |
Thy lip Sicilian reeds inspir'd | P2 |
Thy spirit lent the glad perfume | I |
Whence yet the flowers of Teos bloom | I |
Whence yet from Tibur's Sabine vale | Q2 |
Delicious blows the inlivening gale | Q2 |
While Horace calls thy sportive choir | C |
Heroes and nymphs around his lyre | D |
- | |
But see where yonder pensive sage | R2 |
A prey perhaps to fortune's rage | R2 |
Perhaps by tender griefs oppress'd | L |
Or glooms congenial to his breast | L |
Retires in desert scenes to dwell | S2 |
And bids the joyless world farewell | S2 |
Alone he treads the autumnal shade | T2 |
Alone beneath the mountain laid | T2 |
He sees the nightly damps ascend | E2 |
And gathering storms aloft impend | E2 |
He hears the neighbouring surges roll | U2 |
And raging thunders shake the pole | U2 |
Then struck by every object round | H |
And stunn'd by every horrid sound | H |
He asks a clue for nature's ways | V2 |
But evil haunts him through the maze | V2 |
He sees ten thousand demons rise | H2 |
To wield the empire of the skies | H2 |
And chance and fate assume the rod | W2 |
And malice blot the throne of God | W2 |
O thou whose pleasing power i sing | X2 |
Thy lenient influence hither bring | X2 |
Compose the storm dispell the gloom | I |
Till nature wear her wonted bloom | I |
Till fields and shades their sweets exhale | Q2 |
And music swell each opening gale | Q2 |
Then o'er his breast thy softness pour | Y2 |
And let him learn the timely hour | C |
To trace the world's benignant laws | Z2 |
And judge of that presiding cause | A3 |
Who founds on discord beauty's reign | N |
Converts to pleasure every pain | N |
Subdues each hostile form to rest | L |
And bids the universe be bless'd | L |
- | |
O thou whose pleasing power I sing | X2 |
If right I touch the votive string | X2 |
If equal praise I yield thy name | B3 |
Still govern thou thy poet's flame | B3 |
Still with the Muse my bosom share | K |
And sooth to peace intruding care | K |
- | |
But most exert thy pleasing power | C |
On friendship's consecrated hour | C |
And while my Sophron points the road | C3 |
To godlike wisdom's calm abode | C3 |
Or warm in freedom's ancient cause | A3 |
Traceth the source of Albion's laws | Z2 |
Add thou o'er all the generous toil | D3 |
The light of thy unclouded smile | E3 |
But if by fortune's stubborn sway | Q |
From him and friendship torn away | Q |
I court the Muse's healing spell | S2 |
For griefs that still with absence dwell | S2 |
Do thou conduct my fancy's dreams | F3 |
To such indulgent placid themes | F3 |
As just the struggling breast may cheer | G3 |
And just suspend the starting tear | K |
Yet leave that sacred sense of woe | U |
Which none but friends and lovers know | U |
Mark Akenside
(1)
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