Hudibras, Part I (excerpts) Poem Rhyme Scheme

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Samuel Butler

Hudibras, Part I (excerpts) Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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THE ARGUMENT OF THE FIRST CANTOSir Hudibras his passing worth	A
The manner how he sallied forth	B
His arms and equipage are shown	C
His horse's virtues and his own	C
Th' adventure of the bear and fiddle	D
Is sung but breaks off in the middle	D
When civil fury first grew high	E
And men fell out they knew not why	E
When hard words jealousies and fears	F
Set folks together by the ears	F
And made them fight like mad or drunk	G
For Dame Religion as for punk	G
Whose honesty they all durst swear for	H
Though not a man of them knew wherefore	H
When Gospel Trumpeter surrounded	I
With long ear'd rout to battle sounded	I
And pulpit drum ecclesiastic	J
Was beat with fist instead of a stick	J
Then did Sir Knight abandon dwelling	K
And out he rode a colonelling	K
	-
A wight he was whose very sight would	L
Entitle him Mirror of Knighthood	L
That never bent his stubborn knee	M
To any thing but Chivalry	M
Nor put up blow but that which laid	N
Right worshipful on shoulder blade	N
Chief of domestic knights and errant	O
Either for cartel or for warrant	O
Great on the bench great in the saddle	D
That could as well bind o'er as swaddle	D
Mighty he was at both of these	P
And styl'd of war as well as peace	Q
So some rats of amphibious nature	H
Are either for the land or water	H
But here our authors make a doubt	R
Whether he were more wise or stout	R
Some hold the one and some the other	H
But howsoe'er they make a pother	H
The diff'rence was so small his brain	S
Outweigh'd his rage but half a grain	S
Which made some take him for a tool	D
That knaves do work with call'd a fool	D
And offer to lay wagers that	T
As Montaigne playing with his cat	T
Complains she thought him but an ass	U
Much more she would Sir Hudibras	U
For that's the name our valiant knight	V
To all his challenges did write	V
But they're mistaken very much	W
'Tis plain enough he was no such	W
We grant although he had much wit	X
H' was very shy of using it	X
As being loth to wear it out	R
And therefore bore it not about	R
Unless on holy days or so	U
As men their best apparel do	Y
Beside 'tis known he could speak Greek	K
As naturally as pigs squeak	K
That Latin was no more difficile	D
Than to a blackbird 'tis to whistle	D
Being rich in both he never scanted	Y
His bounty unto such as wanted	Y
But much of either would afford	Y
To many that had not one word	Y
For Hebrew roots although th'are found	Y
To flourish most in barren ground	Y
He had such plenty as suffic'd	Y
To make some think him circumcis'd	Y
And truly so perhaps he was	U
'Tis many a pious Christian's case	U
	-
He was in logic a great critic	K
Profoundly skill'd in analytic	K
He could distinguish and divide	Y
A hair 'twixt south and south west side	Y
On either which he would dispute	Y
Confute change hands and still confute	Y
He'd undertake to prove by force	U
Of argument a man's no horse	U
He'd prove a buzzard is no fowl	D
And that a lord may be an owl	D
A calf an alderman a goose a justice	U
And rooks Committee men and Trustees	U
He'd run in debt by disputation	Z
And pay with ratiocination	Z
All this by syllogism true	Y
In mood and figure he would do	Y
	-
For rhetoric he could not ope	A2
His mouth but out there flew a trope	A2
And when he happen'd to break off	B2
I' th' middle of his speech or cough	C2
H' had hard words ready to show why	E
And tell what rules he did it by	E
Else when with greatest art he spoke	K
You'd think he talk'd like other folk	K
For all a rhetorician's rules	U
Teach nothing but to name his tools	U
His ordinary rate of speech	D2
In loftiness of sound was rich	E2
A Babylonish dialect	Y
Which learned pedants much affect	Y
It was a parti colour'd dress	U
Of patch'd and pie bald languages	U
'Twas English cut on Greek and Latin	Z
Like fustian heretofore on satin	Z
It had an odd promiscuous tone	Z
As if h' had talk'd three parts in one	Z
Which made some think when he did gabble	D
Th' had heard three labourers of Babel	D
Or Cerberus himself pronounce	U
A leash of languages at once	U
This he as volubly would vent	Y
As if his stock would ne'er be spent	Y
And truly to support that charge	F2
He had supplies as vast and large	F2
For he would coin or counterfeit	Y
New words with little or no wit	Y
Words so debas'd and hard no stone	Z
Was hard enough to touch them on	Z
And when with hasty noise he spoke 'em	G2
The ignorant for current took 'em	G2
That had the orator who once	U
Did fill his mouth with pebble stones	U
When he harangu'd but known his phrase	U
He would have us'd no other ways	U
	-
In mathematics he was greater	H
Than Tycho Brahe or Erra Pater	H
For he by geometric scale	D
Could take the size of pots of ale	D
Resolve by sines and tangents straight	Y
If bread or butter wanted weight	Y
And wisely tell what hour o' th' day	Y
The clock does strike by algebra	H
	-
Beside he was a shrewd philosopher	H
And had read ev'ry text and gloss over	H
Whate'er the crabbed'st author hath	H2
He understood b' implicit faith	I2
Whatever sceptic could inquire for	H
For ev'ry why he had a wherefore	H
Knew more than forty of them do	Y
As far as words and terms could go	U
	-
All which he understood by rote	Y
And as occasion serv'd would quote	Y
No matter whether right or wrong	K
They might be either said or sung	K
His notions fitted things so well	D
That which was which he could not tell	D
But oftentimes mistook th' one	Z
For th' other as great clerks have done	Z
He could reduce all things to acts	U
And knew their natures by abstracts	U
Where entity and quiddity	Y
The ghosts of defunct bodies fly	D
Where truth in person does appear	H
Like words congeal'd in northern air	H
He knew what's what and that's as high	D
As metaphysic wit can fly	D
In school divinity as able	D
As he that hight Irrefragable	D
Profound in all the Nominal	D
And Real ways beyond them all	D
And with as delicate a hand	Y
Could twist as tough a rope of sand	Y
And weave fine cobwebs fit for skull	D
That's empty when the moon is full	D
Such as take lodgings in a head	Y
That's to be let unfurnished	Y
He could raise scruples dark and nice	U
And after solve 'em in a trice	U
As if Divinity had catch'd	Y
The itch on purpose to be scratch'd	Y
Or like a mountebank did wound	Y
And stab herself with doubts profound	Y
Only to show with how small pain	Z
The sores of Faith are cur'd again	Z
Although by woful proof we find	Y
They always leave a scar behind	Y
He knew the seat of Paradise	U
Could tell in what degree it lies	U
And as he was dispos'd could prove it	Y
Below the moon or else above it	Y
What Adam dreamt of when his bride	Y
Came from her closet in his side	Y
Whether the devil tempted her	H
By an High Dutch interpreter	H
If either of them had a navel	D
Who first made music malleable	D
Whether the serpent at the fall	D
Had cloven feet or none at all	D
All this without a gloss or comment	Y
He could unriddle in a moment	Y
In proper terms such as men smatter	H
When they throw out and miss the matter	H
	-
For his Religion it was fit	Y
To match his learning and his wit	Y
'Twas Presbyterian true blue	D
For he was of that stubborn crew	D
Of errant saints whom all men grant	Y
To be the true Church Militant	Y
Such as do build their faith upon	Z
The holy text of pike and gun	Z
Decide all controversies by	D
Infallible artillery	H
And prove their doctrine orthodox	U
By apostolic blows and knocks	U
Call fire and sword and desolation	Z
A godly thorough reformation	Z
Which always must be carried on	Z
And still be doing never done	Z
As if religion were intended	Y
For nothing else but to be mended	Y
A sect whose chief devotion lies	U
In odd perverse antipathies	U
In falling out with that or this	U
And finding somewhat still amiss	U
More peevish cross and splenetic	K
Than dog distract or monkey sick	K
That with more care keep holy day	Y
The wrong than others the	H