The Falcon Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCCDD EFGGHBII JJFFCC KKLLMMCC NNOOPP QQPPRAGN HHPPSS HHNTPPPP UUCCNN VVPPPPCC CCFFPM WWPPCCPP CCCCFF TTHHNNPP PPPPHH XYHHMMHFair Princesse of the spacious air | A |
That hast vouchsaf'd acquaintance here | B |
With us are quarter'd below stairs | C |
That can reach heav'n with nought but pray'rs | C |
Who when our activ'st wings we try | D |
Advance a foot into the sky | D |
- | |
Bright heir t' th' bird imperial | E |
From whose avenging penons fall | F |
Thunder and lightning twisted spun | G |
Brave cousin german to the Sun | G |
That didst forsake thy throne and sphere | H |
To be an humble pris'ner here | B |
And for a pirch of her soft hand | I |
Resign the royal woods' command | I |
- | |
How often would'st thou shoot heav'ns ark | J |
Then mount thy self into a lark | J |
And after our short faint eyes call | F |
When now a fly now nought at all | F |
Then stoop so swift unto our sence | C |
As thou wert sent intelligence | C |
- | |
Free beauteous slave thy happy feet | K |
In silver fetters vervails meet | K |
And trample on that noble wrist | L |
The gods have kneel'd in vain t' have kist | L |
But gaze not bold deceived spye | M |
Too much oth' lustre of her eye | M |
The Sun thou dost out stare alas | C |
Winks at the glory of her face | C |
- | |
Be safe then in thy velvet helm | N |
Her looks are calms that do orewhelm | N |
Then the Arabian bird more blest | O |
Chafe in the spicery of her breast | O |
And loose you in her breath a wind | P |
Sow'rs the delicious gales of Inde | P |
- | |
But now a quill from thine own wing | Q |
I pluck thy lofty fate to sing | Q |
Whilst we behold the varions fight | P |
With mingled pleasure and affright | P |
The humbler hinds do fall to pray'r | R |
As when an army's seen i' th' air | A |
And the prophetick spannels run | G |
And howle thy epicedium | N |
- | |
The heron mounted doth appear | H |
On his own Peg'sus a lanceer | H |
And seems on earth when he doth hut | P |
A proper halberdier on foot | P |
Secure i' th' moore about to sup | S |
The dogs have beat his quarters up | S |
- | |
And now he takes the open air | H |
Drawes up his wings with tactick care | H |
Whilst th' expert falcon swift doth climbe | N |
In subtle mazes serpentine | T |
And to advantage closely twin'd | P |
She gets the upper sky and wind | P |
Where she dissembles to invade | P |
And lies a pol'tick ambuscade | P |
- | |
The hedg'd in heron whom the foe | U |
Awaits above and dogs below | U |
In his fortification lies | C |
And makes him ready for surprize | C |
When roused with a shrill alarm | N |
Was shouted from beneath they arm | N |
- | |
The falcon charges at first view | V |
With her brigade of talons through | V |
Whose shoots the wary heron beat | P |
With a well counterwheel'd retreat | P |
But the bold gen'ral never lost | P |
Hath won again her airy post | P |
Who wild in this affront now fryes | C |
Then gives a volley of her eyes | C |
- | |
The desp'rate heron now contracts | C |
In one design all former facts | C |
Noble he is resolv'd to fall | F |
His and his en'mies funerall | F |
And to be rid of her to dy | P |
A publick martyr of the sky | M |
- | |
When now he turns his last to wreak | W |
The palizadoes of his beak | W |
The raging foe impatient | P |
Wrack'd with revenge and fury rent | P |
Swift as the thunderbolt he strikes | C |
Too sure upon the stand of pikes | C |
There she his naked breast doth hit | P |
And on the case of rapiers's split | P |
- | |
But ev'n in her expiring pangs | C |
The heron's pounc'd within her phangs | C |
And so above she stoops to rise | C |
A trophee and a sacrifice | C |
Whilst her own bells in the sad fall | F |
Ring out the double funerall | F |
- | |
Ah victory unhap'ly wonne | T |
Weeping and red is set the Sun | T |
Whilst the whole field floats in one tear | H |
And all the air doth mourning wear | H |
Close hooded all thy kindred come | N |
To pay their vows upon thy tombe | N |
The hobby and the musket too | P |
Do march to take their last adieu | P |
- | |
The lanner and the lanneret | P |
Thy colours bear as banneret | P |
The GOSHAWK and her TERCEL rows'd | P |
With tears attend thee as new bows'd | P |
All these are in their dark array | H |
Led by the various herald jay | H |
- | |
But thy eternal name shall live | X |
Whilst quills from ashes fame reprieve | Y |
Whilst open stands renown's wide dore | H |
And wings are left on which to soar | H |
Doctor robbin the prelate pye | M |
And the poetick swan shall dye | M |
Only to sing thy elegie | H |
Richard Lovelace
(1)
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