An Ode - In Imitation Of Horace, Book Iii. Ode Ii. Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCBDEEFGHDFIHH BBJKKKJLMNOPQQRSTT NMOUMVWXXXAUBBUMA CYCZA2A2MBBMB2C2EDKK D2DGBBKKB A2MMBA2A2AE2EBBBAAAF 2G2G2F2F2ACH2H2MI2UT MDI OJ2OJ2WWMMK2K2BBL2L2 BBM2M2G2G2BBBMMN2N2B BA2EO2EJ2TJ2TBB P2HF2F2BBQ2Q2ZZUUR2Q BCCBQ2Q2S2S2CCJ2J2S2 MT2M U2U2MMMMV2W2ZBBZCF2F 2BBX2Y2Z2| How long deluded Albion wilt thou lie | A |
| In the lethargic sleep the sad repose | B |
| By which thy close thy constant enemy | C |
| Has softly lull'd thee to thy woes | B |
| Or wake degenerate isle or cease to own | D |
| What thy old kings in Gallic camps have done | E |
| The spoils they brought thee back the crowns they won | E |
| William so Fate requires again is arm'd | F |
| Thy father to the field is gone | G |
| Again Maria weeps her absent lord | H |
| For thy repose content to rule alone | D |
| Are thy enervate sons not yet alarm'd | F |
| When William fights dare they look tamely on | I |
| So slow to get their ancient fame restored | H |
| As not to melt at Beauty's tears nor follow Valour's sword | H |
| - | |
| See the repenting isle awakes | B |
| Her vicious chains the generous goddess breaks | B |
| The fogs around her temples are dispell'd | J |
| Abroad she looks and sees arm'd Belgia stand | K |
| Prepared to meet heir common lord's command | K |
| Her lions roaring by her side her arrows in her hand | K |
| And blushing to have been so long withheld | J |
| Weeps off her crime and hastens to the field | L |
| Henceforth her youth shall be inured to bear | M |
| Hazardous toil and active war | N |
| To march beneath the dogstar's raging heat | O |
| Patient of summer's drought and martial sweat | P |
| And only grieve in winter's camp to find | Q |
| Its days too short for labours they design'd | Q |
| All night beneath hard heavy arms to watch | R |
| All day to mount the trench to storm the breach | S |
| And all the rugged paths to tread | T |
| Where William and his virtue led | T |
| - | |
| Silence is the soul of war | N |
| Deliberate counsel must prepare | M |
| The mighty work which valour must complete | O |
| Thus William rescued thus preserves the state | U |
| Thus teaches us to think and dare | M |
| As whilst his cannon just prepared to breathe | V |
| Avenging anger and swift death | W |
| In the tried metal the close dangers glow | X |
| And now too late the dying foe | X |
| Perceives the flame yet cannot ward the blow | X |
| So whilst in William's breast ripe counsels lie | A |
| Secret and sure as brooding Fate | U |
| No more of his design appears | B |
| Than what awakens Gallia's fears | B |
| And though Guilt's eye can sharply penetrate | U |
| Distracted Lewis can descry | M |
| Only a long unmeasured ruin nigh | A |
| - | |
| On Norman coasts and banks of frighted Seine | C |
| Lo the impending storms begin | Y |
| Britannia's safely through her master's sea | C |
| Plows up her victorious way | Z |
| The French Salmoneus throws his bolts in vain | A2 |
| Whilst the true thunderer asserts the main | A2 |
| 'Tis done to shelves and rocks his fleets retire | M |
| Swift victory in vengeful flames | B |
| Burns down the pride of their presumptuous names | B |
| They run to shipwreck to avoid our fire | M |
| And the torn vessels that regain their coast | B2 |
| Are but sad marks to show the rest are lost | C2 |
| All this the mild the beauteous Queen has done | E |
| And William's softer half shakes Lewis' throne | D |
| Maria does the sea command | K |
| Whilst Gallia flies her husband's arms by land | K |
| So the sun absent with full sway the moon | D2 |
| Governs the isles and rules the wave alone | D |
| So Juno thunders when her Jove is gone | G |
| Io Britannia loose thy ocean's chains | B |
| Whilst Russel strikes the blow thy Queen ordains | B |
| Thus rescued thus revered for ever stand | K |
| And bless the counsel and reward the hand | K |
| Io Britannia thy Maria reigns | B |
| - | |
| From Mary's conquests and the rescued main | A2 |
| Let France look forth to Sambre's armed shore | M |
| And boast her joy for William's death no more | M |
| He lives let France confess the victor lives | B |
| Her triumphs for his death were vain | A2 |
| And spoke her terror of his life too plain | A2 |
| The mighty years begin the days draw nigh | A |
| In which | E2 |
| that one | E |
| of Lewis' many wives | B |
| Who by the baleful force of guilty charms | B |
| Has long enthrall'd him in her wither'd arms | B |
| Shall o'er the plains from distant towers on high | A |
| Cast around her mournful eye | A |
| And with prophetic sorrow cry | A |
| Why does my ruin'd lord retard his flight | F2 |
| As well the wolf may venture to engage | G2 |
| The angry lion's generous rage | G2 |
| The ravenous vulture and the bird of night | F2 |
| As safely tempt the stooping eagle's flight | F2 |
| As Lewis to unequal arms defy | A |
| Yon hero crown'd with blooming victory | C |
| Just triumphing o'er rebel rage restrain'd | H2 |
| And yet unbreathed from battles gain'd | H2 |
| See all yon dusty fields quite cover'd o'er | M |
| With hostile troops and Orange at their heart | I2 |
| The great designs of labouring Fate | U |
| Orange the name that tyrants dread | T |
| He comes our ruin'd empire is no more | M |
| Down like the Persian goes the Gallic throne | D |
| Darius flies young Ammon urges on | I |
| - | |
| Now from the dubious battle's mingled heat | O |
| Let Fear look back and stretch her hasty wing | J2 |
| Impatient to secure a base retreat | O |
| Let the pale coward leave his wounded king | J2 |
| For the vile privilege to breath | W |
| To live with shame in dread of glorious death | W |
| In vain for Fate has swifter wings than Fear | M |
| She follows hard and strikes him in the rear | M |
| Dying and mad the traitor bites the ground | K2 |
| His back transfix'd with a dishonest wound | K2 |
| Whilst through the fiercest troops and thickest press | B |
| Virtues carries on success | B |
| Whilst equal Heaven guards the distinguish'd brave | L2 |
| And armies cannot hurt whom angels save | L2 |
| - | |
| Virtue to verse immortal lustre gives | B |
| Each by the other's mutual friendship lives | B |
| AEneas suffer'd and Achilles fought | M2 |
| The hero's acts enlarged the poet's thought | M2 |
| Or Virgil's majesty and Homer's rage | G2 |
| Had ne'er like lasting Nature vanquish'd age | G2 |
| Whilst Lewis then his rising terror drowns | B |
| With drums' alarms and trumpets' sounds | B |
| Whilst hid in arm'd retreats and guarded towns | B |
| From danger as from honour far | M |
| He bribes close Murder against open War | M |
| In vain your Gallic Muses strive | N2 |
| With labour'd verse to keep his fame alive | N2 |
| Your mouldering monuments in vain you raise | B |
| On the weak basis of the tyrant's praise | B |
| Your songs are sold your numbers are profane | A2 |
| 'Tis incense to an idol given | E |
| Meat offer'd to Prometheus' man | O2 |
| That had no soul from Heaven | E |
| Against his will you chain your frighted king | J2 |
| On rapid Rhine's divided bed | T |
| And mock your her whilst ye sing | J2 |
| The wounds for which he never bled | T |
| Falsehood does poison on your praise diffuse | B |
| And Lewis' fear gives death on Boileau's muse | B |
| - | |
| On its own worth true majesty is rear'd | P2 |
| And Virtue is her own reward | H |
| With solid beams and native glory bright | F2 |
| She neither darkness dreads nor covets light | F2 |
| True to herself and fix'd to in born laws | B |
| Nor sunk by spite nor lifted by applause | B |
| She from her settled orb looks calmly down | Q2 |
| On life or death a prison or a crown | Q2 |
| When bound in double chains poor Belgia lay | Z |
| To foreign arms and inward strife a prey | Z |
| Whilst one good man buoy'd up her sinking state | U |
| And Virtue labour'd against Fate | U |
| When Fortune basely with Ambition join'd | R2 |
| And all was conquer'd but the patriot's mind | Q |
| When storms let loose and raging seas | B |
| Just ready the torn vessel to o'erwhelm | C |
| Forced not the faithful pilot from his helm | C |
| Nor all the Siren songs of future peace | B |
| And dazzling prospect of a promised crown | Q2 |
| Could lure his stubborn virtue down | Q2 |
| But against charms and threats and hell he stood | S2 |
| To that which was severely good | S2 |
| Then had no trophies justified his fame | C |
| No poet bless'd his song with Nassau's name | C |
| Virtue alone did all that honour bring | J2 |
| And Heaven as plainly pointed out the King | J2 |
| As when he at the altar stood | S2 |
| In all his types and robes of power | M |
| Whilst at his feet religious Britain bow'd | T2 |
| And own'd him next to what we there adore | M |
| - | |
| Say joyful Maese and Boyne's victorious flood | U2 |
| For each has mix'd his waves with royal blood | U2 |
| When William's armies pass'd did he retire | M |
| Or view from far the battle's distant fire | M |
| Could he believe his person was too dear | M |
| Or use his greatness to conceal his fear | M |
| Could prayers or sighs the dauntless hero move | V2 |
| Arm'd with heaven's justice and his people's love | W2 |
| Through the first waves he wing'd his venturous way | Z |
| And on the adverse shore arose | B |
| Ten thousand flying deaths in vain oppose | B |
| Like the great ruler of the day | Z |
| With strength and swiftness mounting from the sea | C |
| Like him all day he toil'd but long in night | F2 |
| The god has eased his wearied light | F2 |
| Ere vengeance left the stubborn foes | B |
| Or William's labours found repose | B |
| When his troops falter'd stept not he between | X2 |
| Restored the dubious fight again | Y2 |
| Mark'd out the coward that du | Z2 |
Matthew Prior
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About An Ode - In Imitation Of Horace, Book Iii. Ode Ii.
An Ode - In Imitation Of Horace, Book Iii. Ode Ii. is a poem by Matthew Prior. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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