A New Simile Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BBCCDDEEFFGHII JJKKCCLL FFEEFFMM NOFFPQRRSSII TTBBFFUUVVWW VVXXYYFFFF| IN THE MANNER OF SWIFT | A |
| - | |
| LONG had I sought in vain to find | B |
| A likeness for the scribbling kind | B |
| The modern scribbling kind who write | C |
| In wit and sense and nature's spite | C |
| Till reading I forget what day on | D |
| A chapter out of Tooke's Pantheon | D |
| I think I met with something there | E |
| To suit my purpose to a hair | E |
| But let us not proceed too furious | F |
| First please to turn to god Mercurius | F |
| You'll find him pictur'd at full length | G |
| In book the second page the tenth | H |
| The stress of all my proofs on him I lay | I |
| And now proceed we to our simile | I |
| - | |
| Imprimis pray observe his hat | J |
| Wings upon either side mark that | J |
| Well what is it from thence we gather | K |
| Why these denote a brain of feather | K |
| A brain of feather very right | C |
| With wit that's flighty learning light | C |
| Such as to modern bard's decreed | L |
| A just comparison proceed | L |
| - | |
| In the next place his feet peruse | F |
| Wings grow again from both his shoes | F |
| Design'd no doubt their part to bear | E |
| And waft his godship through the air | E |
| And here my simile unites | F |
| For in a modern poet's flights | F |
| I'm sure it may be justly said | M |
| His feet are useful as his head | M |
| - | |
| Lastly vouchsafe t'observe his hand | N |
| Filled with a snake encircl'd wand | O |
| By classic authors term'd caduceus | F |
| And highly fam'd for several uses | F |
| To wit most wond'rously endu'd | P |
| No poppy water half so good | Q |
| For let folks only get a touch | R |
| Its soporific virtue's such | R |
| Though ne'er so much awake before | S |
| That quickly they begin to snore | S |
| Add too what certain writers tell | I |
| With this he drives men's souls to hell | I |
| - | |
| Now to apply begin we then | T |
| His wand's a modern author's pen | T |
| The serpents round about it twin'd | B |
| Denote him of the reptile kind | B |
| Denote the rage with which he writes | F |
| His frothy slaver venom'd bites | F |
| An equal semblance still to keep | U |
| Alike too both conduce to sleep | U |
| This diff'rence only as the god | V |
| Drove souls to Tart'rus with his rod | V |
| With his goosequill the scribbling elf | W |
| Instead of others damns himself | W |
| - | |
| And here my simile almost tript | V |
| Yet grant a word by way of postscript | V |
| Moreover Merc'ry had a failing | X |
| Well what of that out with it stealing | X |
| In which all modern bards agree | Y |
| Being each as great a thief as he | Y |
| But ev'n this deity's existence | F |
| Shall lend my simile assistance | F |
| Our modern bards why what a pox | F |
| Are they but senseless stones and blocks | F |
Oliver Goldsmith
(1)
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About A New Simile
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