The Snail Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABC DDEEFGHH IIJJKKLL MMNNOO FFPPQIRRSS EETRUVWWXXYYTT OOZOFA2B2GC2C2OOD2D2 GG| Wise emblem of our politic world | A |
| Sage snail within thine own self curl'd | A |
| Instruct me softly to make haste | B |
| Whilst these my feet go slowly fast | C |
| - | |
| Compendious snail thou seem'st to me | D |
| Large Euclid's strict epitome | D |
| And in each diagram dost fling | E |
| Thee from the point unto the ring | E |
| A figure now triangular | F |
| An oval now and now a square | G |
| And then a serpentine dost crawl | H |
| Now a straight line now crook'd now all | H |
| - | |
| Preventing rival of the day | I |
| Th'art up and openest thy ray | I |
| And ere the morn cradles the moon | J |
| Th'art broke into a beauteous noon | J |
| Then when the sun sups in the deep | K |
| Thy silver horns ere Cynthia's peep | K |
| And thou from thine own liquid bed | L |
| New Phoebus heav'st thy pleasant head | L |
| - | |
| Who shall a name for thee create | M |
| Deep riddle of mysterious state | M |
| Bold Nature that gives common birth | N |
| To all products of seas and earth | N |
| Of thee as earthquakes is afraid | O |
| Nor will thy dire deliv'ry aid | O |
| - | |
| Thou thine own daughter then and sire | F |
| That son and mother art entire | F |
| That big still with thy self dost go | P |
| And liv'st an aged embryo | P |
| That like the cubs of India | Q |
| Thou from thyself a while dost play | I |
| But frighted with a dog or gun | R |
| In thine own belly thou dost run | R |
| And as thy house was thine own womb | S |
| So thine own womb concludes thy tomb | S |
| - | |
| But now I must analyz'd king | E |
| Thy economic virtues sing | E |
| Thou great stay'd husband still within | T |
| Thou thee that's thine dost discipline | R |
| And when thou art to progress bent | U |
| Thou mov'st thy self and tenement | V |
| As warlike Scythians travell'd you | W |
| Remove your men and city too | W |
| Then after a sad dearth and rain | X |
| Thou scatterest thy silver train | X |
| And when the trees grow nak'd and old | Y |
| Thou clothest them with cloth of gold | Y |
| Which from thy bowels thou dost spin | T |
| And draw from the rich mines within | T |
| - | |
| Now hast thou chang'd thee saint and made | O |
| Thy self a fane that's cupola'd | O |
| And in thy wreathed cloister thou | Z |
| Walkest thine own grey friar too | O |
| Strict and lock'd up th'art hood all o'er | F |
| And ne'er eliminat'st thy door | A2 |
| On salads thou dost feed severe | B2 |
| And 'stead of beads thou dropp'st a tear | G |
| And when to rest each calls the bell | C2 |
| Thou sleep'st within thy marble cell | C2 |
| Where in dark contemplation plac'd | O |
| The sweets of nature thou dost taste | O |
| Who now with time thy days resolve | D2 |
| And in a jelly thee dissolve | D2 |
| Like a shot star which doth repair | G |
| Upward and rarify the air | G |
Richard Lovelace
(1)
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About The Snail
The Snail is a poem by Richard Lovelace. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.