In Memory Of The Late John Thornton, Esq. Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABCDDEEFFGGHHGGIIJJ KKGGLLGGMMNNOOGGPPQQ GGGGRRSSFF| Poets attempt the noblest task they can | A |
| Praising the Author of all good in man | A |
| And next commemorating Worthies lost | B |
| The dead in whom that good abounded most | C |
| Thee therefore of commercial fame but more | D |
| Famed for thy probity from shore to shore | D |
| Thee Thornton worthy in some page to shine | E |
| As honest and more eloquent than mine | E |
| I mourn or since thrice happy thou must be | F |
| The world no longer thy abode not thee | F |
| Thee to deplore were grief misspent indeed | G |
| It were to weep that goodness has its meed | G |
| That there is bliss prepared in yonder sky | H |
| And glory for the virtuous when they die | H |
| What pleasure can the miser's fondled hoard | G |
| Or spendthrift's prodigal excess afford | G |
| Sweet as the privilege of healing woe | I |
| By virtue suffered combating below | I |
| That privilege was thine Heaven gave thee means | J |
| To illuminate with delight the saddest scenes | J |
| Till thy appearance chased the gloom forlorn | K |
| As midnight and despairing of a morn | K |
| Thou hadst an industry in doing good | G |
| Restless as his who toils and sweats for food | G |
| Avarice in thee was the desire of wealth | L |
| By rust unperishable or by stealth | L |
| And if the genuine worth of gold depend | G |
| On application to its noblest end | G |
| Thine had a value in the scales of Heaven | M |
| Surpassing all that mine or mint had given | M |
| And though God made thee of a nature prone | N |
| To distribution boundless of thy own | N |
| And still by motives of religious force | O |
| Impelled the more to that heroic course | O |
| Yet was thy liberality discreet | G |
| Nice in its choice and of a tempered heat | G |
| And though in act unwearied secret still | P |
| As in some solitude the summer rill | P |
| Refreshes where it winds the faded green | Q |
| And cheers the drooping flowers unheard unseen | Q |
| Such was thy charity no sudden start | G |
| After long sleep of passion in the heart | G |
| But steadfast principle and in its kind | G |
| Of close relation to the eternal mind | G |
| Traced easily to its true source above | R |
| To Him whose works bespeak his nature love | R |
| Thy bounties all were Christian and I make | S |
| This record of thee for the gospel's sake | S |
| That the incredulous themselves may see | F |
| Its use and power exemplified in thee | F |
William Cowper
(1)
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