Jonah Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCC DDEEFFGG FFHHIJFFKKLLMNOOJJ PPCCQQRS FFTTFFCCUVQQOONN WXYYZZCCA2B2 MMC2C2II D2D2QQE2E2PPA2A2 F2F2DDOO FFIIG2G2 FFOOJJDDH2H2FFJJI2J2 MMFF K2L2M2E2OOIJN2YDDHHJ JI2I2IIO2O2JJJJP2P2J JJJDDJJQQJJPPQ2Q2R2R 2K2K2JJDDS2UT2T2 JJJJ JThus sung the king some angel reach a bough | A |
From Eden's tree to crown the wisest brow | A |
And now thou fairest garden ever made | B |
Broad banks of spices blossom'd walks of shade | B |
O Lebanon where much I love to dwell | C |
Since I must leave thee Lebanon farewel | C |
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Swift from my soul the fair Idea flies | D |
A wilder sight the changing scene supplies | D |
Wide seas come rolling to my future page | E |
And storms stand ready when I call to rage | E |
Then go where Joppa crowns the winding shore | F |
The prophet Jonah just arrives before | F |
He sees a ship unmooring soft the gales | G |
He pays and enters and the vessel sails | G |
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Ah wou'dst thou fly thy God rash man forbear | F |
What land so distant but thy God is there | F |
Weak reason cease thy voice They run the deep | H |
And the tir'd prophet lays his limbs to sleep | H |
Here God speaks louder sends a storm to sea | I |
The clouds remove to give the vengeance way | J |
Strong blasts come whistling by degrees they roar | F |
And shove big surges tumbling on to shore | F |
The vessel bounds then rolls and ev'ry blast | K |
Works hard to tear her by the groaning mast | K |
The sailors doubling all their shouts and cares | L |
Furl the white canvas and cast forth the wares | L |
Each seek the God their native regions own | M |
In vain they seek them for those Gods were none | N |
Yet Jonah slept the while who solely knew | O |
In all that number where to find the true | O |
To whom the pilot sleeper rise and pray | J |
Our Gods are deaf may thine do more than they | J |
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But thus the rest perhaps we waft a foe | P |
To heav'n itself and that's our cause of woe | P |
Let's seek by lots if heav'n be pleas'd to tell | C |
And what they sought by lots on Jonah fell | C |
Then whence he came and who and what and why | Q |
Thus rag'd the tempest all confus'dly cry | Q |
Each press'd in haste to get his question heard | R |
When Jonah stops them with a grave regard | S |
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An Hebrew man you see who God revere | F |
He made this world and makes this world his care | F |
His the whirl'd sky these waves that lift their head | T |
And his yon land on which you long to tread | T |
He charg'd me late to Nineveh repair | F |
And to their face denounce his sentence there | F |
Go said the vision prophet preach to all | C |
Yet forty days and Nineveh shall fall | C |
But well I knew him gracious to forgive | U |
And much my zeal abhor'd the bad shou'd live | V |
And if they turn they live then what were I | Q |
But some false prophet when they fail to die | Q |
Or what I fanci'd had the Gentiles too | O |
With Hebrew prophets and their God to do | O |
Drawn by the wilful thoughts my soil I run | N |
I fled his presence and the work's undone | N |
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The storm increases as the prophet speaks | W |
O'er the toss'd ship a foaming billow breaks | X |
She rises pendant on the lifted waves | Y |
And thence descries a thousand watry graves | Y |
Then downward rushing watry mountains hide | Z |
Her hulk beneath in deaths on ev'ry side | Z |
O cry the sailors all thy fact was ill | C |
Yet if a prophet speak thy master's will | C |
What part is ours with thee can ought remain | A2 |
To bring the blessings of a calm again | B2 |
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Then Jonah mine's the death will best atone | M |
And God is pleas'd that I pronounce my own | M |
Arise and cast me forth the wind will cease | C2 |
The sea subsiding wear the looks of peace | C2 |
And you securely steer For well I see | I |
Myself the criminal the storm for me | I |
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Yet pity moves for one that owns a blame | D2 |
And awe resulting from a prophet's name | D2 |
Love pleads he kindly meant for them to die | Q |
Fear pleads against him lest they pow'r defy | Q |
If then to aid the flight abets the sin | E2 |
They think to land him where they took him in | E2 |
Perhaps to quit the cause might end the woe | P |
And God appeasing let the vessel go | P |
For this they fix their oars and strike the main | A2 |
But God withstands them and they strike in vain | A2 |
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The storm increases more with want of light | F2 |
Low black'ning clouds involve the ship in night | F2 |
Thick batt'ring rains fly thro' the driving skies | D |
Loud thunder bellows darted light'ning flies | D |
A dreadful picture night born horrour drew | O |
And his or theirs or both their fates they view | O |
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Then thus to God they cry Almighty pow'r | F |
Whom we ne'er knew 'till this despairing hour | F |
From this devoted blood thy servants free | I |
To us he's innocent if so to thee | I |
In all the past we see thy wond'rous hand | G2 |
And that he perish think it thy command | G2 |
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This pray'r perform'd they cast the prophet o'er | F |
A surge receives him and he mounts no more | F |
Then stills the thunder cease the flames of blue | O |
The rains abated and the winds withdrew | O |
The clouds ride off and as they march away | J |
Thro' ev'ry breaking shoots a chearful day | J |
The sea which rag'd so loud accepts the prize | D |
A while it rolls then all the tempest dies | D |
By gradual sinking flat the surface grows | H2 |
And safe the vessel with the sailors goes | H2 |
The Lion thus that bounds the fences o'er | F |
And makes the Mountain Ecchoes learn to roar | F |
If on the lawn a branching deer he rend | J |
Then falls his hunger all his roarings end | J |
Murm'ring a while to rest his limbs he lays | I2 |
And the freed lawn enjoys its herd at ease | J2 |
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Bless'd with the sudden calm the sailors own | M |
That wretched Jonah worship'd right alone | M |
Then make their vows the victim sheep prepare | F |
Bemoan the prophet and the God revere | F |
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Now tho' you fear to loose the pow'r to breath | K2 |
Now tho' you tremble Fancy dive beneath | L2 |
What world of wonders in the deep are seen | M2 |
But this the greatest Jonah lives within | E2 |
The man who fondly fled the Maker's view | O |
Strange as the crime has found a dungeon too | O |
God sent a monster of the frothing sea | I |
Fit by the bulk to gorge the living prey | J |
And lodge him still alive this hulk receives | N2 |
The falling prophet as he dash'd the waves | Y |
There newly wak'd from fanci'd death he lies | D |
And oft again in apprehension dies | D |
While three long days and nights depriv'd of sleep | H |
He turn'd and toss'd him up and down the deep | H |
He thinks the judgment of the strangest kind | J |
And much he wonders what the Lord design'd | J |
Yet since he lives the gift of life he weighs | I2 |
That's time for pray'r and thus a ground for praise | I2 |
From the dark entrails of the whale to thee | I |
This new contrivance of a hell to me | I |
To thee my God I cry'd my full distress | O2 |
Pierc'd thy kind ear and brought my soul redress | O2 |
Cast to the deep I fell by thy command | J |
Cast in the midst beyond the reach of land | J |
Then to the midst brought down the seas abide | J |
Beneath my feet the seas on ev'ry side | J |
In storms the billow and in calms the wave | P2 |
Are moving cov'rings to my wand'ring grave | P2 |
Forc'd by despair I cry'd how to my cost | J |
I fled thy presence Oh for ever lost | J |
But hope revives my soul and makes me say | J |
Yet tow'rds thy temple shall I turn and pray | J |
Or if I know not here where Salem lies | D |
Thy temple's heav'n and faith has inward eyes | D |
Alas the waters which my whale surround | J |
Have thro' my sorr'wing soul a passage found | J |
And now the dungeon moves new depths I try | Q |
New thoughts of danger all his paths supply | Q |
The last of Deeps affords the last of dread | J |
And wraps its funeral weeds around my head | J |
Now o'er the sand his rollings seem to go | P |
Where the big mountains root their base below | P |
And now to rocks and clefts their course they take | Q2 |
Earth's endless bars too strong for me to break | Q2 |
Yet from th' Abyss my God thy grace divine | R2 |
Hath call'd him upward and my life is mine | R2 |
Still as I toss'd I scarce retain'd my breath | K2 |
My soul was sick within and faint to death | K2 |
'Twas then I thought of thee for pity pray'd | J |
And to thy temple flew the pray'rs I made | J |
The men whom lying vanity insnares | D |
Forsake thy mercy that which might be theirs | D |
But I will pay my God my King receive | S2 |
The solemn vows my full affection give | U |
When in thy temple for a psalm I sing | T2 |
Salvation only from my God my king | T2 |
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Thus ends the prophet first from Canaan sent | J |
To let the Gentiles know they must repent | J |
God hears and speaks the Whale at God's command | J |
Heaves to the light and casts him forth to land | J |
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With long fatigue with unexpected | J |
Thomas Parnell
(1)
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