The Chameleon Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEFGGAHIIJJKK LL MMNNOPCC QGRRSTUU VVVVWW| As the Chameleon who is known | A |
| To have no colours of his own | A |
| But borrows from his neighbour's hue | B |
| His white or black his green or blue | B |
| And struts as much in ready light | C |
| Which credit gives him upon sight | C |
| As if the rainbow were entail | D |
| Settled on him and his heirs male | D |
| So the young 'squire when first he comes | E |
| From country school to Will's or Tom's | F |
| And equally in truth is fit | G |
| To be a statesman or a wit | G |
| Without one notion of his own | A |
| He saunters wildly up and down | H |
| Till some acquaintance good or bad | I |
| Takes notice of a staring lad | I |
| Admits him in among the gang | J |
| They jest reply dispute harangue | J |
| He acts and talks as they befriend him | K |
| Smear'd with the colours which they lend him | K |
| - | |
| Thus merely as his fortune chances | L |
| His merit or his vice advances | L |
| - | |
| If haply the sect pursues | M |
| That read and comment upon news | M |
| He takes up their mysterious face | N |
| He drinks his coffee without lace | N |
| This week his mimic tongue runs o'er | O |
| What they had said the week before | P |
| His wisdom sets all Europe right | C |
| And teaches Marlborough when to fight | C |
| - | |
| Or if it be his fate to meet | Q |
| With folks who have more wealth than wit | G |
| He loves cheap Port and double bub | R |
| And settles in the Humdrum club | R |
| He learns how stocks will fall or rise | S |
| Holds poverty the greatest vice | T |
| Thinks wit the bane of conversation | U |
| And says that learning spoils a nation | U |
| - | |
| But if at first he minds his hits | V |
| And drinks Champaigne among the wits | V |
| Five deep he toasts the towering lasses | V |
| Repeats yon verse wrote on glasses | V |
| Is in the chair prescribes the law | W |
| And lies with those he never saw | W |
Matthew Prior
(2)
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About The Chameleon
The Chameleon is a poem by Matthew Prior. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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James Yan: Very well, this might be my official poem of the year
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