An Ode - Inscribed To The Memory Of The Hon. Colonel George Villiers Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDEFFGGHHH IIJJKKK HHFFLLJMNNMM OPQQRRSS TUVVWXYYIIZZ A2A2OOO B2C2D2E2F2QEE UUG2LH2MI2I2J2J2 K2K2L2L2M2M2VN2J2O2O 2 P2P2IIO2O2UU| Say dearest Villiers poor departed friend | A |
| Since fleeting life thus suddenly must end | A |
| Say what did all thy busy hopes avail | B |
| That anxious thou from pole to pole didst sail | B |
| Ere on thy chin the springing beard began | C |
| To spread a doubtful down and promise man | C |
| What profited thy thoughts and toils and cares | D |
| In vigour more confirmed and riper years | E |
| To wake ere morning dawn to loud alarms | F |
| And march till close of night in heavy arms | F |
| To scorn the summer's suns and winter's snows | G |
| And search through every clime thy country's foes | G |
| That thou might'st Fortune to thy side engage | H |
| That gentle Peace might quell Bellona's rage | H |
| And Anna's bounty crown her soldier's hoary age | H |
| - | |
| In vain we think that free will'd man has power | I |
| To hasten or protract th' appointed hour | I |
| Our term of life depends not on our deed | J |
| Before our birth our funeral was decreed | J |
| Nor awed by foresight nor misled by chance | K |
| Imperious Death directs his ebon lance | K |
| Peoples great Henry's tombs and leads up Holben's dance | K |
| - | |
| Alike must every state and every age | H |
| Sustain the universal tyrant's rage | H |
| For neither William's power nor Mary's charms | F |
| Could or repel or pacify his arms | F |
| Young Churchill fell as life began to bloom | L |
| And Bradford's trembling age expects the tomb | L |
| Wisdom and Eloquence in vain would plead | J |
| One moment's respite for the learned head | M |
| Judges of writings and of men have died | N |
| Maecenas Sackville Socrates and Hyde | N |
| And in their various turns the sons must tread | M |
| Those gloomy journeys which their sires have led | M |
| - | |
| The ancient sage who did so long maintain | O |
| That bodies die but souls return again | P |
| With all the births and deaths he had in store | Q |
| Went out Pythagoras and came no more | Q |
| And modern Asgyll whose capricious thought | R |
| Is yet with stores of wilder notions fraught | R |
| Too soon convinced shall yield that fleeting breath | S |
| Which play'd so idly with the darts of Death | S |
| - | |
| Some from the stranded vessel force their way | T |
| Fearful of fate they meet it in the sea | U |
| Some who escape the fury of the wave | V |
| Sicken on earth and sink into a grave | V |
| In journeys or at home in war or peace | W |
| By hardships many many fall by ease | X |
| Each changing season does its poison bring | Y |
| Rheums chill the winter agues blast the spring | Y |
| Wet dry cold hot at the appointed hour | I |
| All act subservient to the tyrant's power | I |
| And when obedient Nature knows his will | Z |
| A fly a grape stone or a hair can kill | Z |
| - | |
| For restless Proserpine for ever treads | A2 |
| In paths unseen o'er our devoted heads | A2 |
| And on the spacious land and liquid main | O |
| Spreads slow disease or darts afflictive pain | O |
| Variety of deaths confirms her endless reign | O |
| - | |
| On cursed Piava's banks the goddess stood | B2 |
| Show'd her dire warrant to the rising flood | C2 |
| When he I long must love and long must mourn | D2 |
| With fatal speed was urging his return | E2 |
| In his dear country to disperse his care | F2 |
| And arm himself by rest for future war | Q |
| To chide his anxious friends' officious fears | E |
| And promise to their joys his elder years | E |
| - | |
| Oh destined head and oh severe decree | U |
| Nor native country thou nor friend shalt see | U |
| Nor war hast thou to wage nor year to come | G2 |
| Impending death is thine and instant doom | L |
| Hark the imperious goddess is obey'd | H2 |
| Winds murmur snows descend and waters spread | M |
| Oh Kinsman Friend Oh vain are all the cries | I2 |
| Of human voice strong Destiny replies | I2 |
| Weep you on earth for he shall sleep below | J2 |
| Thence none return and thither all must go | J2 |
| - | |
| Whoe'er thou art whom choice or business leads | K2 |
| To this sad river or the neighbouring meads | K2 |
| If thou may'st happen on the dreary shores | L2 |
| To find the object which this verse deplores | L2 |
| Cleanse the pale corpse with a religious hand | M2 |
| From the polluting weed and common sand | M2 |
| Lay the dead hero graceful in a grave | V |
| The only honour he can now receive | N2 |
| And fragrant mould upon his body throw | J2 |
| And plant the warrior laurel o'er his brow | O2 |
| Light lie the earth and flourish green the bough | O2 |
| - | |
| So may just Heaven secure thy future life | P2 |
| From foreign dangers and domestic strife | P2 |
| And when th' infernal Judge's dismal power | I |
| From the dark urn shall throw thy destin'd hour | I |
| When yielding to the sentence breathless thou | O2 |
| And pale shalt lie as what thou buriest now | O2 |
| May some kind friend the piteous object see | U |
| And equal rites perform to that which once was thee | U |
Matthew Prior
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About An Ode - Inscribed To The Memory Of The Hon. Colonel George Villiers
An Ode - Inscribed To The Memory Of The Hon. Colonel George Villiers is a poem by Matthew Prior. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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