The Logicians Refuted Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIFFJJ KKBBLLMMDDNKMMDDDDOO PPEEDDQQDDRRDDSSTT| IN IMITATION OF DEAN SWIFT | A |
| - | |
| LOGICIANS have but ill defin'd | B |
| As rational the human kind | B |
| Reason they say belongs to man | C |
| But let them prove it if they can | C |
| Wise Aristotle and Smiglecius | D |
| By ratiocinations specious | D |
| Have strove to prove with great precision | E |
| With definition and division | E |
| 'Homo est ratione praeditum' | F |
| But for my soul I cannot credit 'em | F |
| And must in spite of them maintain | G |
| That man and all his ways are vain | G |
| And that this boasted lord of nature | H |
| Is both a weak and erring creature | H |
| That instinct is a surer guide | I |
| Than reason boasting mortals' pride | I |
| And that brute beasts are far before 'em | F |
| 'Deus est anima brutorum' | F |
| Who ever knew an honest brute | J |
| At law his neighbour prosecute | J |
| Bring action for assault and battery | K |
| Or friend beguile with lies and flattery | K |
| O'er plains they ramble unconfin'd | B |
| No politics disturb their mind | B |
| They eat their meals and take their sport | L |
| Nor know who's in or out at court | L |
| They never to the levee go | M |
| To treat as dearest friend a foe | M |
| They never importune his grace | D |
| Nor ever cringe to men in place | D |
| Nor undertake a dirty job | N |
| Nor draw the quill to write for B b | K |
| Fraught with invective they ne'er go | M |
| To folks at Pater Noster Row | M |
| No judges fiddlers dancing masters | D |
| No pick pockets or poetasters | D |
| Are known to honest quadrupeds | D |
| No single brute his fellow leads | D |
| Brutes never meet in bloody fray | O |
| Nor cut each others' throats for pay | O |
| Of beasts it is confess'd the ape | P |
| Comes nearest us in human shape | P |
| Like man he imitates each fashion | E |
| And malice is his ruling passion | E |
| But both in malice and grimaces | D |
| A courtier any ape surpasses | D |
| Behold him humbly cringing wait | Q |
| Upon a minister of state | Q |
| View him soon after to inferiors | D |
| Aping the conduct of superiors | D |
| He promises with equal air | R |
| And to perform takes equal care | R |
| He in his turn finds imitators | D |
| At court the porters lacqueys waiters | D |
| Their master's manners still contract | S |
| And footmen lords and dukes can act | S |
| Thus at the court both great an small | T |
| Behave alike for all ape all | T |
Oliver Goldsmith
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