The Pleasures Of Imagination: Book The First Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST UVWXYZA2PB2N HC2D2E2EF2G2H2NI2J2K 2L2M2N2O2NP2I2Q2R2S2 FT2I2 U2IV2W2X2Y2Z2I2A3QNY 2Z2B3C3C3D3G2AE3C3FN PF3G3C3H3I3ESJ3K3NHC 3I2L3M3C3N3C3AO3C3C3 C3CP3C3Q3R3V2 C3S3GOC3NC3FP3C3AT3U 3GC3HV3W3X3A2Y3V2Z3C 3S3P2M2A4A2B4 CQAC4C3C3D4E4F4G4M3G C3C3PAH4FW2C3I4C3J4H K4C3C3L4M4NC3N4MC3O4 L4B4APY3K3C3G4P4U3GQ 4R4

With what attractive charms this goodly frameA
Of nature touches the consenting heartsB
Of mortal men and what the pleasing storesC
Which beauteous imitation thence derivesD
To deck the poet's or the painter's toilE
My verse unfolds Attend ye gentle powersF
Of musical delight and while i singG
Your gifts your honours dance around my strainH
Thou smiling queen of every tuneful breastI
Indulgent Fancy from the fruitful banksJ
Of Avon whence thy rosy fingers cullK
Fresh flowers and dews to sprinkle on the turfL
Where Shakespeare lies be present and with theeM
Let Fiction come upon her vagrant wingsN
Wafting ten thousand colours through the airO
Which by the glances of her magic eyeP
She blends and shifts at will through countless formsQ
Her wild creation Goddess of the lyreR
Which rules the accents of the moving sphereS
Wilt thou eternal Harmony descendT
And join this festive train for with thee comesU
The guide the guardian of their lovely sportsV
Majestic Truth and where Truth deigns to comeW
Her sister Liberty will not be farX
Be present all ye Genii who conductY
The wandering footsteps of the youthful bardZ
New to your springs and shades who touch his earA2
With finer sounds who heighten to his eyeP
The bloom of nature and before him turnB2
The gayest happiest attitude of thingsN
-
Oft have the laws of each poetic strainH
The critic verse imploy'd yet still unsungC2
Lay this prime subject though importing mostD2
A poet's name for fruitless is the attemptE2
By dull obedience and by creeping toilE
Obscure to conquer the severe ascentF2
Of high Parnassus Nature's kindling breathG2
Must fire the chosen genius nature's handH2
Must string his nerves and imp his eagle wingsN
Impatient of the painful steep to soarI2
High as the summit there to breathe at largeJ2
thereal air with bards and sages oldK2
Immortal sons of praise These flattering scenesL2
To this neglected labour court my songM2
Yet not unconscious what a doubtful taskN2
To paint the finest features of the mindO2
And to most subtile and mysterious thingsN
Give colour strength and motion But the loveP2
Of nature and the muses bids exploreI2
Through secret paths erewhile untrod by manQ2
The fair poetic region to detectR2
Untasted springs to drink inspiring draughtsS2
And shade my temples with unfading flowersF
Cull'd from the laureate vale's profound recessT2
Where never poet gain'd a wreath beforeI2
-
From heaven my strains begin from heaven descendsU2
The flame of genius to the human breastI
And love and beauty and poetic joyV2
And inspiration Ere the radiant sunW2
Sprang from the east or 'mid the vault of nightX2
The moon suspended her serener lampY2
Ere mountains woods or streams adorn'd the globeZ2
Or wisdom taught the sons of men her loreI2
Then liv'd the almighty One then deep retir'dA3
In his unfathom'd essence view'd the formsQ
The forms eternal of created thingsN
The radiant sun the moon's nocturnal lampY2
The mountains woods and streams the rowling globeZ2
And wisdom's mien celestial From the firstB3
Of days on them his love divine he fix'dC3
His admiration till in time compleatC3
What he admir'd and lov'd his vital smileD3
Unfolded into being Hence the breathG2
Of life informing each organic frameA
Hence the green earth and wild resounding wavesE3
Hence light and shade alternate warmth and coldC3
And clear autumnal skies and vernal showersF
And all the fair variety of thingsN
-
But not alike to every mortal eyeP
Is this great scene unveil'd For since the claimsF3
Of social life to different labours urgeG3
The active powers of man with wise intentC3
The hand of nature on peculiar mindsH3
Imprints a different byass and to eachI3
Decrees its province in the common toilE
To some she taught the fabric of the sphereS
The changeful moon the circuit of the starsJ3
The golden zones of heaven to some she gaveK3
To weigh the moment of eternal thingsN
Of time and space and fate's unbroken chainH
And will's quick impulse others by the handC3
She led o'er vales and mountains to exploreI2
What healing virtue swells the tender veinsL3
Of herbs and flowers or what the beams of mornM3
Draw forth distilling from the clifted rindC3
In balmy tears But some to higher hopesN3
Were destin'd some within a finer mouldC3
She wrought and temper'd with a purer flameA
To these the sire omnipotent unfoldsO3
The world's harmonious volume there to readC3
The transcript of himself On every partC3
They trace the bright impressions of his handC3
In earth or air the meadow's purple storesC
The moon's mild radiance or the virgin's formP3
Blooming with rosy smiles they see portray'dC3
That uncreated beauty which delightsQ3
The mind supreme They also feel her charmsR3
Enamour'd they partake the eternal joyV2
-
For as old Memnon's image long renown'dC3
By fabling Nilus to the quivering touchS3
Of Titan's ray with each repulsive stringG
Consenting sounded through the warbling airO
Unbidden strains even so did nature's handC3
To certain species of external thingsN
Attune the finer organs of the mindC3
So the glad impulse of congenial powersF
Or of sweet sound or fair proportion'd formP3
The grace of motion or the bloom of lightC3
Thrills through imagination's tender frameA
From nerve to nerve all naked and aliveT3
They catch the spreading rays till now the soulU3
At length discloses every tuneful springG
To that harmonious movement from withoutC3
Responsive Then the inexpressive strainH
Diffuses its inchantment fancy dreamsV3
Of sacred fountains and Elysian grovesW3
And vales of bliss the intellectual powerX3
Bends from his awful throne a wondering earA2
And smiles the passions gently sooth'd awayY3
Sink to divine repose and love and joyV2
Alone are waking love and joy sereneZ3
As airs that fan the summer O attendC3
Whoe'er thou art whom these delights can touchS3
Whose candid bosom the refining loveP2
Of nature warms o listen to my songM2
And i will guide thee to her favourite walksA4
And teach thy solitude her voice to hearA2
And point her loveliest features to thy viewB4
-
Know then whate'er of nature's pregnant storesC
Whate'er of mimic art's reflected formsQ
With love and admiration thus inflameA
The powers of fancy her delighted sonsC4
To three illustrious orders have referr'dC3
Three sister graces whom the painter's handC3
The poet's tongue confesses the sublimeD4
The wonderful the fair I see them dawnE4
I see the radiant visions where they riseF4
More lovely than when Lucifer displaysG4
His beaming forehead through the gates of mornM3
To lead the train of Ph bus and the springG
-
Say why was man so eminently rais'dC3
Amid the vast creation why ordain'dC3
Through life and death to dart his piercing eyeP
With thoughts beyond the limit of his frameA
But that the omnipotent might send him forthH4
In sight of mortal and immortal powersF
As on a boundless theatre to runW2
The great career of justice to exaltC3
His generous aim to all diviner deedsI4
To chase each partial purpose from his breastC3
And through the mists of passion and of senseJ4
And through the tossing tide of chance and painH
To hold his course unfaultering while the voiceK4
Of truth and virtue up the steep ascentC3
Of nature calls him to his high rewardC3
The applauding smile of heaven Else wherefore burnsL4
In mortal bosoms this unquenched hopeM4
That breathes from day to day sublimer thingsN
And mocks possession wherefore darts the mindC3
With such resistless ardour to embraceN4
Majestic forms impatient to be freeM
Spurning the gross controul of wilful mightC3
Proud of the strong contention of her toilsO4
Proud to be daring Who but rather turnsL4
To heaven's broad fire his unconstrained viewB4
Than to the glimmering of a waxen flameA
Who that from Alpine heights his labouring eyeP
Shoots round the wide horizon to surveyY3
Nilus or Ganges rowling his bright waveK3
Through mountains plains through empires black with shadeC3
And continents of sand will turn his gazeG4
To mark the windings of a scanty rillP4
That murmurs at his feet The high born soulU3
Disdains to rest her heaven aspiring wingG
Beneath its native quarry Tir'd of earthQ4
And thR4

Mark Akenside



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