Expostulation Poem Rhyme Scheme

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Why weeps the muse for England What appears	A
In England's case to move the muse to tears	B
From side to side of her delightful isle	C
Is she not clothed with a perpetual smile	C
Can Nature add a charm or Art confer	D
A new found luxury not seen in her	D
Where under heaven is pleasure more pursued	E
Or where does cold reflection less intrude	E
Her fields a rich expanse of wavy corn	F
Pour'd out from Plenty's overflowing horn	F
Ambrosial gardens in which art supplies	G
The fervor and the force of Indian skies	G
Her peaceful shores where busy Commerce waits	H
To pour his golden tide through all her gates	H
Whom fiery suns that scorch the russet spice	I
Of eastern groves and oceans floor'd with ice	I
Forbid in vain to push his daring way	J
To darker climes or climes of brighter day	J
Whom the winds waft where'er the billows roll	K
From the World's girdle to the frozen pole	K
The chariots bounding in her wheel worn streets	L
Her vaults below where every vintage meets	L
Her theatres her revels and her sports	M
The scenes to which not youth alone resorts	M
But age in spite of weakness and of pain	N
Still haunts in hope to dream of youth again	O
All speak her happy let the muse look round	P
From East to West no sorrow can be found	P
Or only what in cottages confined	Q
Sighs unregarded to the passing wind	Q
Then wherefore weep for England What appears	A
In England's case to move the muse to tears	B
The prophet wept for Israel wish'd his eyes	G
Were fountains fed with infinite supplies	G
For Israel dealt in robbery and wrong	R
There were the scorner's and the slanderer's tongue	S
Oaths used as playthings or convenient tools	T
As interest biass'd knaves or fashion fools	T
Adultery neighing at his neighbor's door	U
Oppression laboring hard to grind the poor	V
The partial balance and deceitful weight	W
The treacherous smile a mask for secret hate	W
Hypocrisy formality in prayer	X
And the dull service of the lip were there	X
Her women insolent and self caress'd	Y
By Vanity's unwearied finger dress'd	Y
Forgot the blush that virgin fears impart	Z
To modest cheeks and borrow'd one from art	Z
Were just trifles without worth or use	A2
As silly pride and idleness produce	A2
Curl'd scented furbelow'd and flounced around	P
With feet too delicate to touch the ground	P
They stretch'd the neck and roll'd the wanton eye	B2
And sigh'd for every fool that flutter'd by	B2
He saw his people slaves to every lust	C2
Lewd avaricious arrogant unjust	C2
He heard the wheels of an avenging God	D2
Groan heavily along the distant road	E2
Saw Babylon set wide her two leaved brass	F2
To let the military deluge pass	F2
Jerusalem a prey her glory soil'd	G2
Her princes captive and her treasures spoil'd	G2
Wept till all Israel heard his bitter cry	B2
Stamp'd with his foot and smote upon his thigh	B2
But wept and stamp'd and smote his thigh in vain	N
Pleasure is deaf when told of future pain	N
And sounds prophetic are too rough to suit	H2
Ears long accustom'd to the pleasing lute	H2
They scorn'd his inspiration and his theme	I2
Pronounc'd him frantic and his fears a dream	I2
With self indulgence wing'd the fleeting hours	J2
Till the foe found them and down fell the towers	J2
Long time Assyria bound them in her chain	N
Till penitence had purged the public stain	N
And Cyrus with relenting pity moved	K2
Return'd them happy to the land they loved	L2
There proof against prosperity awhile	C
They stood the test of her ensnaring smile	C
And had the grace in scenes of peace to show	M2
The virtue they had learn'd in scenes of woe	M2
But man is frail and can but ill sustain	N
A long immunity from grief and pain	N
And after all the joys that Plenty leads	N2
With tiptoe step Vice silently succeeds	N2
When he that ruled them with a shepherd's rod	D2
In form a man in dignity a God	D2
Came not expected in that humble guise	G
To sift and search them with unerring eyes	G
He found conceal'd beneath a fair outside	O2
The filth of rottenness and worm of pride	O2
Their piety a system of deceit	P2
Scripture employ'd to sanctify the cheat	P2
The Pharisee the dupe of his own art	Z
Self idolized and yet a knave at heart	Z
When nations are to perish in their sins	Q2
'Tis in the Church the leprosy begins	Q2
The priest whose office is with zeal sincere	R2
To watch the fountain and preserve it clear	R2
Carelessly nods and sleeps upon the brink	S2
While other poison what the flock must drink	S2
Or waking at the call of lust alone	T2
Infuses lies and errors of his own	T2
His unsuspecting sheep believe it pure	U2
And tainted by the very means of cure	U2
Catch from each other a contagious spot	V2
The foul forerunner of a general rot	V2
Then truth is hush'd that Heresy may preach	W2
And all is trash that reason cannot reach	W2
Then God's own image on the soul impress'd	Y
Becomes a mockery and a standing jest	Y
And faith the root whence only can arise	G
The graces of a life that wins the skies	G
Loses at once all value and esteem	I2
Pronounced by graybeards a pernicious dream	I2
Then Ceremony leads her bigots forth	X2
Prepared to fight for shadows of no worth	Y2
While truths on which eternal things depend	Z2
Find not or hardly find a single friend	Z2
As soldiers watch the signal of command	A3
They learn to bow to kneel to sit to stand	A3
Happy to fill religion's vacant place	B3
With hollow form and gesture and grimace	C3
Such when the Teacher of his church was there	X
People and priest the sons of Israel were	D
Stiff in the letter lax in the design	D3
And import of their oracles divine	D3
Their learning legendary false absurd	E3
And yet exalted above God's own word	E3
They drew a curse from an intended good	F3
Puff'd up with gifts they never understood	F3
He judg'd them with as terrible a frown	G3
As if not love but wrath had brought him down	G3
Yet he was gentle as soft summer airs	B
Had grace for others' sins but none for theirs	B
Through all he spoke a noble plainness ran	H3
Rhetoric is artifice the work of man	H3
And tricks and turns that fancy may devise	G
Are far too mean for Him that rules the skies	G
The astonish'd vulgar trembled while he tore	U
The mask from faces never seen before	U
He stripp'd the impostors in the noonday sun	I3
Show'd that they follow'd all they seem'd to shun	I3
Their prayers made public their excesses kept	J3
As private as the chambers where they slept	J3
The temple and its holy rites profaned	J3
By mummeries He that dwelt in it disdain'd	J3
Uplifted hands that at convenient times	K3
Could act extortion and the worst of crimes	K3
Wash'd with a neatness scrupulously nice	I
And free from every taint but that of vice	I
Judgement however tardy mends her pace	B3
When obstinacy once has conquered grace	B3
They saw distemper heal'd and life restor'd	J3
In answer to the fiat of his word	J3
Confessed the wonder and with daring tongue	S
Blasphemed the authority from which it sprung	S
They knew by sure prognostics seen on high	B2
The future tone and temper of the sky	B2
But grave dissemblers could not understand	J3
That sin let loose speaks punishment at hand	J3
Ask now of history's authentic page	L3
And call up evidence from every age	L3
Display with busy and laborious hand	J3
The blessings of the most indebted land	J3
What nation will you find whose annals prove	M3
So rich an interest in Almighty love	N3
Where dwell they now where dwelt in ancient day	J3
A people planted water'd blest as they	J3
Let Egypt's plagues and Canaan's woes proclaim	O3
The favors pour'd upon the Jewish name	O3
Their freedom purchased for them at the cost	J3
Of all their hard oppressors valued most	J3
Their title to a country not their own	T2
Made sure by prodigies till then unknown	T2
For them the states they left made waste and void	J3
For them the states to which they went destroy'd	J3
A cloud to measure out their march by day	J3
By night a fire to cheer the gloomy way	J3
That moving signal summoning when best	J3
Their host to move and when it stay'd to rest	J3
For them the rocks dissolved into a flood	J3
The dews condensed into angelic food	J3
Their very garments sacred old yet new	P3
And Time forbid to touch them as he flew	P3
Streams swell'd above the bank enjoin'd to stand	J3
While they pass'd through to their appointed land	J3
Their leader arm'd wi	J3

William Cowper

Expostulation Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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