Hudibras: Part 1 - Canto I Poem Rhyme Scheme

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Samuel Butler

Hudibras: Part 1 - Canto I Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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THE ARGUMENT	A
	-
Sir Hudibras his passing worth	B
The manner how he sallied forth	C
His arms and equipage are shown	D
His horse's virtues and his own	D
Th' adventure of the bear and fiddle	E
Is sung but breaks off in the middle	E
	-
	-
When civil dudgeon a first grew high	F
And men fell out they knew not why	F
When hard words jealousies and fears	G
Set folks together by the ears	G
And made them fight like mad or drunk	H
For Dame Religion as for punk	H
Whose honesty they all durst swear for	I
Though not a man of them knew wherefore	I
When Gospel Trumpeter surrounded	J
With long ear'd rout to battle sounded	J
And pulpit drum ecclesiastick	H
Was beat with fist instead of a stick	H
Then did Sir Knight abandon dwelling	H
And out he rode a colonelling	H
A wight he was whose very sight wou'd	J
Entitle him Mirror of Knighthood	J
That never bent his stubborn knee	K
To any thing but Chivalry	K
Nor put up blow but that which laid	J
Right worshipful on shoulder blade	J
Chief of domestic knights and errant	J
Either for cartel or for warrant	J
Great on the bench great in the saddle	E
That could as well bind o'er as swaddle	E
Mighty he was at both of these	L
And styl'd of war as well as peace	M
So some rats of amphibious nature	I
Are either for the land or water	I
But here our authors make a doubt	J
Whether he were more wise or stout	J
Some hold the one and some the other	I
But howsoe'er they make a pother	I
The diff'rence was so small his brain	N
Outweigh'd his rage but half a grain	N
Which made some take him for a tool	E
That knaves do work with call'd a fool	E
And offer to lay wagers that	J
As MONTAIGNE playing with his cat	J
Complains she thought him but an ass	O
Much more she wou'd Sir HUDIBRAS	O
For that's the name our valiant knight	J
To all his challenges did write	J
But they're mistaken very much	P
'Tis plain enough he was no such	P
We grant although he had much wit	J
H' was very shy of using it	J
As being loth to wear it out	J
And therefore bore it not about	J
Unless on holy days or so	O
As men their best apparel do	J
Beside 'tis known he could speak GREEK	H
As naturally as pigs squeek	H
That LATIN was no more difficile	E
Than to a blackbird 'tis to whistle	E
Being rich in both he never scanted	J
His bounty unto such as wanted	J
But much of either would afford	J
To many that had not one word	J
For Hebrew roots although they're found	J
To flourish most in barren ground	J
He had such plenty as suffic'd	J
To make some think him circumcis'd	J
And truly so he was perhaps	O
Not as a proselyte but for claps	O
	-
He was in LOGIC a great critic	H
Profoundly skill'd in analytic	H
He could distinguish and divide	J
A hair 'twixt south and south west side	J
On either which he would dispute	J
Confute change hands and still confute	J
He'd undertake to prove by force	O
Of argument a man's no horse	O
He'd prove a buzzard is no fowl	E
And that a lord may be an owl	E
A calf an alderman a goose a justice	O
And rooks Committee men and Trustees	O
He'd run in debt by disputation	Q
And pay with ratiocination	Q
All this by syllogism true	J
In mood and figure he would do	J
For RHETORIC he could not ope	R
His mouth but out there flew a trope	R
And when he happen'd to break off	S
I' th' middle of his speech or cough	T
H' had hard words ready to show why	F
And tell what rules he did it by	F
Else when with greatest art he spoke	H
You'd think he talk'd like other folk	H
For all a rhetorician's rules	O
Teach nothing but to name his tools	O
His ordinary rate of speech	U
In loftiness of sound was rich	V
A Babylonish fdialect	J
Which learned pedants much affect	J
It was a parti colour'd dress	O
Of patch'd and pie bald languages	O
'Twas English cut on Greek and Latin	Q
Like fustian heretofore on satin	Q
It had an odd promiscuous tone	Q
As if h' had talk'd three parts in one	Q
Which made some think when he did gabble	E
Th' had heard three labourers of Babel	E
Or CERBERUS himself pronounce	O
A leash of languages at once	O
This he as volubly would vent	J
As if his stock would ne'er be spent	J
And truly to support that charge	W
He had supplies as vast and large	W
For he cou'd coin or counterfeit	J
New words with little or no wit	J
Words so debas'd and hard no stone	Q
Was hard enough to touch them on	Q
And when with hasty noise he spoke 'em	X
The ignorant for current took 'em	X
That had the orator who once	O
Did fill his mouth with pebble stones	O
When he harangu'd but known his phrase	O
He would have us'd no other ways	O
In MATHEMATICKS he was greater	I
Than TYCHO BRAHE or ERRA PATER	I
For he by geometric scale	E
Could take the size of pots of ale	E
Resolve by sines and tangents straight	J
If bread or butter wanted weight	J
And wisely tell what hour o' th' day	J
The clock does strike by algebra	I
Beside he was a shrewd PHILOSOPHER	I
And had read ev'ry text and gloss over	I
Whate'er the crabbed'st author hath	Y
He understood b' implicit faith	Z
Whatever sceptic could inquire for	I
For ev'ry why he had a wherefore	I
Knew more than forty of them do	J
As far as words and terms cou'd go	H
All which he understood by rote	J
And as occasion serv'd would quote	J
No matter whether right or wrong	H
They might be either said or sung	H
His notions fitted things so well	E
That which was which he could not tell	E
But oftentimes mistook th' one	Q
For th' other as great clerks have done	Q
He could reduce all things to acts	O
And knew their natures by abstracts	O
Where entity and quiddity	J
The ghosts of defunct bodies fly	E
Where truth in person does appear	I
Like words congeal'd in northern air	I
He knew what's what and that's as high	E
As metaphysic wit can fly	E
In school divinity as able	E
As he that hight Irrefragable	E
A second THOMAS or at once	O
To name them all another DUNCE	O
Profound in all the Nominal	E
And Real ways beyond them all	E
For he a rope of sand cou'd twist	J
As tough as learned SORBONIST	J
And weave fine cobwebs fit for skull	E
That's empty when the moon is full	E
Such as take lodgings in a head	J
That's to be let unfurnished	J
He could raise scruples dark and nice	O
And after solve 'em in a trice	O
As if Divinity had catch'd	J
The itch on purpose to be scratch'd	J
Or like a mountebank did wound	J
And stab herself with doubts profound	J
Only to show with how small pain	Q
The sores of Faith are cur'd again	Q
Although by woeful proof we find	J
They always leave a scar behind	J
He knew the seat of Paradise	O
Could tell in what degree it lies	O
And as he was dispos'd could prove it	J
Below the moon or else above it	J
What Adam dreamt of when his bride	J
Came from her closet in his side	J
Whether the devil tempted her	I
By a High Dutch interpreter	I
If either of them had a navel	E
Who first made music malleable	E
Whether the serpent at the fall	E
Had cloven feet or none at all	E
All this without a gloss or comment	J
He could unriddle in a moment	J
In proper terms such as men smatter	I
When they throw out and miss the matter	I
	-
For his Religion it was fit	J
To match his learning and his wit	J
'Twas Presbyterian true blue	E
For he was of that stubborn crew	E
Of errant saints whom all men grant	J
To be the true Church Militant	J
Such as do build their faith upon	Q
The holy text of pike and gun	Q
Decide all controversies by	E
Infallible artillery	I
And prove their doctrine orthodox	O
By apostolic blows and knocks	O
Call fire and sword and desolation	Q
A godly thorough reformation	Q
Which always must be carried on	Q
And still be doing never done	Q
As if religion were intended	J
For nothing else but to be mended	J
A sect whose chief devotion lies	O
In odd perverse antipathies	O
In falling out with that or this	O
And finding somewhat still amiss	O
More peevish cross and splenetick	H
Than dog distract or monkey sick	H
That with more care keep holy day	J
The wrong than others the right way	J
Compound for sins they are inclin'd to	E
By damning those they have no mind to	E
Still so perverse and opposite	J
As if they worshipp'd God for spite	J