A Fable Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDDEEFFGHIIJKL LMMNNOODD PQQRROOSSGHA raven while with glossy breast | A |
Her new laid eggs she fondly press'd | A |
And on her wicker work high mounted | B |
Her chickens prematurely counted | B |
A fault philosophers might blame | C |
If quite exempted from the same | C |
Enjoy'd at ease the genial day | D |
'Twas April as the bumpkins say | D |
The legislature call'd it May | D |
But suddenly a wind as high | E |
As ever swept a winter sky | E |
Shook the young leaves about her ears | F |
And fill'd her with a thousand fears | F |
Lest the rude blast should snap the bough | G |
And spread her golden hopes below | H |
But just at eve the blowing weather | I |
And all her fears were hush'd together | I |
And now quoth poor unthinking Ralph | J |
'Tis over and the brood is safe | K |
For ravens though as birds of omen | L |
They teach both conjurors and old women | L |
To tell us what is to befall | M |
Can t prophesy themselves at all | M |
The morning came when neighbour Hodge | N |
Who long had mark'd her airy lodge | N |
And destined all the treasure there | O |
A gift to his expecting fair | O |
Climb d like a squirrel to his dray | D |
And bore the worthless prize away | D |
- | |
Moral | P |
'Tis Providence alone secures | Q |
In every change both mine and yours | Q |
Safety consists not in escape | R |
From dangers of a frightful shape | R |
An earthquake may be bid to spare | O |
The man that s strangled by a hair | O |
Fate steals along with silent tread | S |
Found oft nest in what least we dread | S |
Frowns in the storm with angry brow | G |
But in the sunshine strikes the blow | H |
William Cowper
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Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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