Elegy Vi. Anno Aetates Undevigesimo.[1] Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCCDDEEFFGHIIJJKKLL DDMMGHNNOOPPEEOOQQOO RRPPSSTTUVOOOOWWOONN OOXXOOOOYYOOHHZZIINN OOOOPPTTA2A2DDEECCRR A2A2EEB2 WWC2C2D2D2OOEE| As yet a stranger to the gentle fires | A |
| That Amathusia's smiling Queen inspires | B |
| Not seldom I derided Cupid's darts | C |
| And scorn'd his claim to rule all human hearts | C |
| Go child I said transfix the tim'rous dove | D |
| An easy conquest suits an infant Love | D |
| Enslave the sparrow for such prize shall be | E |
| Sufficient triumph to a Chief like thee | E |
| Why aim thy idle arms at human kind | F |
| Thy shafts prevail not 'gainst the noble mind | F |
| The Cyprian heard and kindling into ire | G |
| None kindles sooner burn'd with double fire | H |
| It was the Spring and newly risen day | I |
| Peep'd o'er the hamlets on the First of May | I |
| My eyes too tender for the blaze of light | J |
| Still sought the shelter of retiring night | J |
| When Love approach'd in painted plumes arrayed | K |
| Th'insidious god his rattling darts betray'd | K |
| Nor less his infant features and the sly | L |
| Sweet intimations of his threat'ning eye | L |
| Such the Sigeian boy is seen above | D |
| Filling the goblet for imperial Jove | D |
| Such he on whom the nymphs bestow'd their charms | M |
| Hylas who perish'd in a Naiad's arms | M |
| Angry he seem'd yet graceful in his ire | G |
| And added threats not destitute of fire | H |
| My power he said by others pain alone | N |
| 'Twere best to learn now learn it by thy own | N |
| With those who feel my power that pow'r attest | O |
| And in thy anguish be my sway confest | O |
| I vanquish'd Phoebus though returning vain | P |
| From his new triumph o'er the Python slain | P |
| And when he thinks on Daphne even He | E |
| Will yield the prize of archery to me | E |
| A dart less true the Parthian horseman sped | O |
| Behind him kill'd and conquer'd as he fled | O |
| Less true th'expert Cydonian and less true | Q |
| The youth whose shaft his latent Procris slew | Q |
| Vanquish'd by me see huge Orion bend | O |
| By me Alcides and Alcides's friend | O |
| At me should Jove himself a bolt design | R |
| His bosom first should bleed transfix'd by mine | R |
| But all thy doubts this shaft will best explain | P |
| Nor shall it teach thee with a trivial pain | P |
| Thy Muse vain youth shall not thy peace ensure | S |
| Nor Phoebus' serpent yield thy wound a cure | S |
| He spoke and waving a bright shaft in air | T |
| Sought the warm bosom of the Cyprian fair | T |
| That thus a child should bluster in my ear | U |
| Provok'd my laughter more than mov'd my fear | V |
| I shun'd not therefore public haunts but stray'd | O |
| Careless in city or suburban shade | O |
| And passing and repassing nymphs that mov'd | O |
| With grace divine beheld where'er I rov'd | O |
| Bright shone the vernal day with double blaze | W |
| As beauty gave new force to Phoebus' rays | W |
| By no grave scruples check'd I freely eyed | O |
| The dang'rous show rash youth my only guide | O |
| And many a look of many a Fair unknown | N |
| Met full unable to control my own | N |
| But one I mark'd then peace forsook my breast | O |
| One Oh how far superior to the rest | O |
| What lovely features Such the Cyprian Queen | X |
| Herself might wish and Juno wish her mien | X |
| The very nymph was she whom when I dar'd | O |
| His arrows Love had even then prepar'd | O |
| Nor was himself remote nor unsupplied | O |
| With torch well trimm'd and quiver at his side | O |
| Now to her lips he clung her eye lids now | Y |
| Then settled on her cheeks or on her brow | Y |
| And with a thousand wounds from ev'ry part | O |
| Pierced and transpierced my undefended heart | O |
| A fever new to me of fierce desire | H |
| Now seiz'd my soul and I was all on fire | H |
| But she the while whom only I adore | Z |
| Was gone and vanish'd to appear no more | Z |
| In silent sadness I pursue my way | I |
| I pause I turn proceed yet wish to stay | I |
| And while I follow her in thought bemoan | N |
| With tears my soul's delight so quickly flown | N |
| When Jove had hurl'd him to the Lemnian coast | O |
| So Vulcan sorrow'd for Olympus lost | O |
| And so Oeclides sinking into night | O |
| From the deep gulph look'd up to distant light | O |
| Wretch that I am what hopes for me remain | P |
| Who cannot cease to love yet love in vain | P |
| Oh could I once once more behold the Fair | T |
| Speak to her tell her of the pangs I bear | T |
| Perhaps she is not adamant would show | A2 |
| Perhaps some pity at my tale of woe | A2 |
| Oh inauspicious flame 'tis mine to prove | D |
| A matchless instance of disastrous love | D |
| Ah spare me gentle Pow'r If such thou be | E |
| Let not thy deeds and nature disagree | E |
| Now I revere thy fires thy bow thy darts | C |
| Now own thee sov'reign of all human hearts | C |
| Spare me and I will worship at no shrine | R |
| With vow and sacrifice save only thine | R |
| Remove no grant me still this raging woe | A2 |
| Sweet is the wretchedness that lovers know | A2 |
| But pierce hereafter should I chance to see | E |
| One destined mine at once both her and me | E |
| B2 | |
| - | |
| Such were the trophies that in earlier days | W |
| By vanity seduced I toil'd to raise | W |
| Studious yet indolent and urg'd by youth | C2 |
| That worst of teachers from the ways of Truth | C2 |
| Till learning taught me in his shady bow'r | D2 |
| To quit love's servile yoke and spurn his pow'r | D2 |
| Then on a sudden the fierce flame supprest | O |
| A frost continual settled on my breast | O |
| Whence Cupid fears his flames extinct to see | E |
| And Venus dreads a Diomede in me | E |
William Cowper
(1)
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Elegy Vi. Anno Aetates Undevigesimo.[1] is a poem by William Cowper. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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