Elegy I. To Charles Diodati.[1] Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCCDDBBCCEEFFGGHIJJ KKLLEEMMNNOOPQRRSTFF FUUVVEEWWBBXXRFRRYYZ ZERRRA2A2B2B2C2BD2D2 E2E2F2F2DDG2G2H2I2J2 J2RRVVK2K2L2L2E2E2| At length my friend the far sent letters come | A |
| Charged with thy kindness to their destin'd home | B |
| They come at length from Deva's Western side | C |
| Where prone she seeks the salt Vergivian tide | C |
| Trust me my joy is great that thou shouldst be | D |
| Though born of foreign race yet born for me | D |
| And that my sprightly friend now free to roam | B |
| Must seek again so soon his wonted home | B |
| I well content where Thames with refluent tide | C |
| My native city laves meantime reside | C |
| Nor zeal nor duty now my steps impell | E |
| To reedy Cam and my forbidden cell | E |
| Nor aught of pleasure in those fields have I | F |
| That to the musing bard all shade deny | F |
| Tis time that I a pedant's threats disdain | G |
| And fly from wrongs my soul will ne'er sustain | G |
| If peaceful days in letter'd leisure spent | H |
| Beneath my father's roof be banishment | I |
| Then call me banish'd I will ne'er refuse | J |
| A name expressive of the lot I chuse | J |
| I would that exiled to the Pontic shore | K |
| Rome's hapless bard had suffer'd nothing more | K |
| He then had equall'd even Homer's lays | L |
| And Virgil thou hadst won but second praise | L |
| For here I woo the Muse with no control | E |
| And here my books my life absorb me whole | E |
| Here too I visit or to smile or weep | M |
| The winding theatre's majestic sweep | M |
| The grave or gay colloquial scene recruits | N |
| My spirits spent in Learning's long pursuits | N |
| Whether some Senior shrewd or spendthrift heir | O |
| Wooer or soldier now unarm'd be there | O |
| Or some coif'd brooder o'er a ten years' cause | P |
| Thunder the Norman gibb'rish of the laws | Q |
| The lacquey there oft dupes the wary sire | R |
| And artful speeds th'enamour'd son's desire | R |
| There virgins oft unconscious what they prove | S |
| What love is know not yet unknowing love | T |
| Or if impassion'd Tragedy wield high | F |
| The bloody sceptre give her locks to fly | F |
| Wild as the winds and roll her haggard eye | F |
| I gaze and grieve still cherishing my grief | U |
| At times e'en bitter tears yield sweet relief | U |
| As when from bliss untasted torn away | V |
| Some youth dies hapless on his bridal day | V |
| Or when the ghost sent back from shades below | E |
| Fills the assassin's heart with vengeful woe | E |
| When Troy or Argos the dire scene affords | W |
| Or Creon's hall laments its guilty lords | W |
| Nor always city pent or pent at home | B |
| I dwell but when Spring calls me forth to roam | B |
| Expatiate in our proud suburban shades | X |
| Of branching elm that never sun pervades | X |
| Here many a virgin troop I may descry | R |
| Like stars of mildest influence gliding by | F |
| Oh forms divine Oh looks that might inspire | R |
| E'en Jove himself grown old with young desire | R |
| Oft have I gazed on gem surpassing eyes | Y |
| Outsparkling every star that gilds the skies | Y |
| Necks whiter than the iv'ry arm bestow'd | Z |
| By Jove on Pelops or the Milky Road | Z |
| Bright locks Love's golden snares these falling low | E |
| Those playing wanton o'er the graceful brow | R |
| Cheeks too more winning sweet than after show'r | R |
| Adonis turn'd to Flora's fav'rite flow'r | R |
| Yield Heroines yield and ye who shar'd th'embrace | A2 |
| Of Jupiter in ancient times give place | A2 |
| Give place ye turban'd Fair of Persia's coast | B2 |
| And ye not less renown'd Assyria's boast | B2 |
| Submit ye nymphs of Greece Ye once the bloom | C2 |
| Of Ilion and all ye of haughty Rome | B |
| Who swept of old her theatres with trains | D2 |
| Redundant and still live in classic strains | D2 |
| To British damsels beauty's palm is due | E2 |
| Aliens to follow them is fame for you | E2 |
| Oh city founded by Dardanian hands | F2 |
| Whose towering front the circling realm commands | F2 |
| Too blest abode no loveliness we see | D |
| In all the earth but it abounds in thee | D |
| The virgin multitude that daily meets | G2 |
| Radiant with gold and beauty in thy streets | G2 |
| Outnumbers all her train of starry fires | H2 |
| With which Diana gilds thy lofty spires | I2 |
| Fame says that wafted hither by her doves | J2 |
| With all her host of quiver bearing Loves | J2 |
| Venus prefering Paphian scenes no more | R |
| Has fix'd her empire on thy nobler shore | R |
| But lest the sightless boy inforce my stay | V |
| I leave these happy walls while yet I may | V |
| Immortal Moly shall secure my heart | K2 |
| From all the sorc'ry of Circaean art | K2 |
| And I will e'en repass Cam's reedy pools | L2 |
| To face once more the warfare of the Schools | L2 |
| Meantime accept this trifle Rhymes though few | E2 |
| Yet such as prove thy friend's remembrance true | E2 |
William Cowper
(1)
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