Eclogue, Summer Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BBCC D EEFFGG A HHBB D IIJJ A KKLL D MMNNOOPPQQ A RRSS Q KK A TT Q UU A QQ Q NNQQQQKKVVVTT A WWPP Q MMQQXXYY A ZZWWA2A2B2T Q C2C2D2D2E2E2 A QQF2F2G2G2QQH2H2H2R Q ZZQQH2H2QQWWI2J2H2H2 H2H2QQ H2 A2 Q K2L2L2| DAVID | A |
| - | |
| My task is done no further will I mow | B |
| I faint with hunger and with heat I glow | B |
| Well Giles what cheer how far behind you lag | C |
| Badly your practice answers to your brag | C |
| - | |
| GILES | D |
| - | |
| Deuce take the scythe no wonder I am last | E |
| The wonder is I work'd my way so fast | E |
| Sure such another never yet was made | F |
| It's maker must have been a duller blade | F |
| The bungling fool might I his fault chastise | G |
| Should use it for a razor till he dies | G |
| - | |
| DAVID | A |
| - | |
| Ha ha well said young jester though bereft | H |
| Of strength and patience yet your wit is left | H |
| But come good friend to dinner let us go | B |
| Tired are my limbs my wasted spirits low | B |
| - | |
| GILES | D |
| - | |
| Poor David age is weak soon jaded out | I |
| I feel as when beginning fresh and stout | I |
| Your easy task is ended therefore dine | J |
| I scorn refreshment till I finish mine | J |
| - | |
| DAVID | A |
| - | |
| Then to yon grassy bank I will retreat | K |
| Shaded by willows from the oppressive heat | K |
| There may we dine and seated all at ease | L |
| Imbibe fresh vigour with the cooling breeze | L |
| - | |
| GILES | D |
| - | |
| Curse his old arms so nimble and so strong | M |
| How calmly did he seem to creep along | M |
| While I for conquest strove with eager pain | N |
| And labour'd sweated panted all in vain | N |
| This awkward tool yet no defect I see | O |
| The ground uneven some cause must there be | O |
| He the best mower let it not be known | P |
| No crafty Giles that secret is your own | P |
| Fatigue thirst hunger strongly urge me hence | Q |
| I'll e'en o'ertake him with some fair pretence | Q |
| - | |
| DAVID | A |
| - | |
| Ha ha the foolish vanity of youth | R |
| Such painful efforts to disguise the truth | R |
| Who comes what Giles so quickly change your mind | S |
| Too wise I thought to tarry long behind | S |
| - | |
| GILES | Q |
| - | |
| In one employment when good fellows meet | K |
| They should together toil together eat | K |
| - | |
| DAVID | A |
| - | |
| Here let us sit against this trunk I'll lean | T |
| You against that the dinner placed between | T |
| - | |
| GILES | Q |
| - | |
| Now rest we silent till our meal be done | U |
| While in our ears sweet watery murmurs run | U |
| - | |
| DAVID | A |
| - | |
| Right when the body feels recruited force | Q |
| More eloquently will the mind discourse | Q |
| - | |
| GILES | Q |
| - | |
| Now David I'll attempt a loftier strain | N |
| Listen and judge of my poetic vein | N |
| See Phoebus his meridian height attains | Q |
| And like a king in all his splendour reigns | Q |
| Beneath his scorching radiance Nature lies | Q |
| Feverish and faint her beauteous verdure dies | Q |
| Oppress'd and panting with the sultry heat | K |
| The flocks and herds to shades or streams retreat | K |
| Through the still air no Zephyr dares to play | V |
| Lest his soft pinion melt in heat away | V |
| But if to mitigate the solar ray | V |
| A lucid cloud should kindly intervene | T |
| Then the glad Zephyrs sport beneath the grateful screen | T |
| - | |
| DAVID | A |
| - | |
| How beautiful the thoughts and how sublime | W |
| Rich is the language and exact the rhyme | W |
| Inform me friend are those fine strains your own | P |
| They rise superior to the rustic tone | P |
| - | |
| GILES | Q |
| - | |
| Why not be mine does then the gift of song | M |
| To wealth and rank exclusively belong | M |
| Fancy with choice unbribed her few selects | Q |
| Nor affluence nor exalted birth respects | Q |
| The kingly mansion she will oft forsake | X |
| Pleased with the shepherd her abode to make | X |
| With me the kind Enchantress long has dwelt | Y |
| Long has my soul her inspirations felt | Y |
| - | |
| DAVID | A |
| - | |
| I once the feelings of a poet knew | Z |
| Though in my best of days no match for you | Z |
| But now my genius yields to conquering time | W |
| Yet still I keep my judgment and my rhyme | W |
| Then what that judgment dictates I declare | A2 |
| No tuneful shepherd can with you compare | A2 |
| Although in many a county I have been | B2 |
| And many a rural poet I have seen | T |
| - | |
| GILES | Q |
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| O cease your high applauses kindest friend | C2 |
| For sure my merit they must far transcend | C2 |
| How different men in different ways excel | D2 |
| My forte is rhyming your's is mowing well | D2 |
| And while to me you deign in song to yield | E2 |
| You bear the scythe triumphant through the field | E2 |
| - | |
| DAVID | A |
| - | |
| That only Youth whose sweetly flowing lays | Q |
| Resembling your's deserve the second praise | Q |
| Dwelt near this place or memory I lack | F2 |
| Yes now I recollect five summers back | F2 |
| When to these parts for harvest work I came | G2 |
| How all the fields resounded with his fame | G2 |
| The Bard I ne'er beheld but heard the swains | Q |
| Still with delight repeat his peerless strains | Q |
| Not less by Fortune than the Muses blest | H2 |
| No cares of life disturb'd his peaceful breast | H2 |
| For poesy alone his happy soul possest | H2 |
| Did you not know that youth | R |
| - | |
| GILES | Q |
| - | |
| Full well I knew | Z |
| Nor is he David quite unknown to you | Z |
| That Youth am I with what surprize you gaze | Q |
| Then was I blest indeed with golden days | Q |
| My parents' only child at home I dwelt | H2 |
| Indulged caress'd nor cares nor wishes felt | H2 |
| How did they joy my verses to peruse | Q |
| How praise each effort of my lisping Muse | Q |
| Then sweetly glided on the stream of time | W |
| I tended flocks or meditated rhyme | W |
| Alas my friend those blissful hours are o'er | I2 |
| My then propitious stars now rule no more | J2 |
| Long has my Father slept among the dead | H2 |
| With his last breath my joys my hopes all fled | H2 |
| The wealth he left which might our woes have eased | H2 |
| His greedy creditors unpitying seized | H2 |
| My Mother and myself our sole resource | Q |
| For livelihood to labour took recourse | Q |
| - | |
| DAVID | H2 |
| - | |
| Affecting tale I've heard it with a tear | A2 |
| - | |
| GILES | Q |
| - | |
| No longer sit we idly chatting here | K2 |
| The village clock has struck come let us up | L2 |
| To night friend David we'll together sup | L2 |
Thomas Oldham
(1)
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About Eclogue, Summer
Eclogue, Summer is a poem by Thomas Oldham. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.