To Robert Graham, Esq., Of Fintray. Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCBB DDBBEEFFGGHHIIBBJJKK LLFFBBBB MMII NNOPQQBBRRR BBSK BBIITTUVWXYYPPII DDEEOOBBIIZPA2A2B2C2 C2Late crippl'd of an arm and now a leg | A |
About to beg a pass for leave to beg | A |
Dull listless teas'd dejected and deprest | B |
Nature is adverse to a cripple's rest | B |
Will generous Graham list to his Poet's wail | C |
It soothes poor misery hearkening to her tale | C |
And hear him curse the light he first survey'd | B |
And doubly curse the luckless rhyming trade | B |
- | |
Thou Nature partial Nature I arraign | D |
Of thy caprice maternal I complain | D |
The lion and the bull thy care have found | B |
One shakes the forests and one spurns the ground | B |
Thou giv'st the ass his hide the snail his shell | E |
Th' envenom'd wasp victorious guards his cell | E |
Thy minions kings defend control devour | F |
In all th' omnipotence of rule and power | F |
Foxes and statesmen subtile wiles insure | G |
The cit and polecat stink and are secure | G |
Toads with their poison doctors with their drug | H |
The priest and hedgehog in their robes are snug | H |
Ev'n silly woman has her warlike arts | I |
Her tongue and eyes her dreaded spear and darts | I |
But oh thou bitter stepmother and hard | B |
To thy poor fenceless naked child the Bard | B |
A thing unteachable in world's skill | J |
And half an idiot too more helpless still | J |
No heels to bear him from the op'ning dun | K |
No claws to dig his hated sight to shun | K |
No horns but those by luckless Hymen worn | L |
And those alas not Amalthea's horn | L |
No nerves olfact'ry Mammon's trusty cur | F |
Clad in rich dullness' comfortable fur | F |
In naked feeling and in aching pride | B |
He bears the unbroken blast from every side | B |
Vampyre booksellers drain him to the heart | B |
And scorpion critics cureless venom dart | B |
- | |
Critics appall'd I venture on the name | M |
Those cut throat bandits in the paths of fame | M |
Bloody dissectors worse than ten Monroes | I |
He hacks to teach they mangle to expose | I |
- | |
His heart by causeless wanton malice wrung | N |
By blockheads' daring into madness stung | N |
His well won bays than life itself more dear | O |
By miscreants torn who ne'er one sprig must wear | P |
Foil'd bleeding tortur'd in the unequal strife | Q |
The hapless poet flounders on through life | Q |
Till fled each hope that once his bosom fir'd | B |
And fled each muse that glorious once inspir'd | B |
Low sunk in squalid unprotected age | R |
Dead even resentment for his injur'd page | R |
He heeds or feels no more the ruthless critic's rage | R |
- | |
So by some hedge the gen'rous steed deceas'd | B |
For half starv'd snarling curs a dainty feast | B |
By toil and famine wore to skin and bone | S |
Lies senseless of each tugging bitch's son | K |
- | |
O dullness portion of the truly blest | B |
Calm sheltered haven of eternal rest | B |
Thy sons ne'er madden in the fierce extremes | I |
Of fortune's polar frost or torrid beams | I |
If mantling high she fills the golden cup | T |
With sober selfish ease they sip it up | T |
Conscious the bounteous meed they well deserve | U |
They only wonder some folks do not starve | V |
The grave sage hern thus easy picks his frog | W |
And thinks the mallard a sad worthless dog | X |
When disappointment snaps the clue of hope | Y |
And thro' disastrous night they darkling grope | Y |
With deaf endurance sluggishly they bear | P |
And just conclude that fools are fortune's care | P |
So heavy passive to the tempest's shocks | I |
Strong on the sign post stands the stupid ox | I |
- | |
Not so the idle muses' mad cap train | D |
Not such the workings of their moon struck brain | D |
In equanimity they never dwell | E |
By turns in soaring heav'n or vaulted hell | E |
I dread thee fate relentless and severe | O |
With all a poet's husband's father's fear | O |
Already one strong hold of hope is lost | B |
Glencairn the truly noble lies in dust | B |
Fled like the sun eclips'd as noon appears | I |
And left us darkling in a world of tears | I |
O hear my ardent grateful selfish pray'r | Z |
Fintray my other stay long bless and spare | P |
Thro' a long life his hopes and wishes crown | A2 |
And bright in cloudless skies his sun go down | A2 |
May bliss domestic smooth his private path | B2 |
Give energy to life and soothe his latest breath | C2 |
With many a filial tear circling the bed of death | C2 |
Robert Burns
(1)
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