See Where The Thames, The Purest Stream Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABCCB DDEFFG HHIJJK LLMNNM OOPQRP SSSSSS JTUSSU NNTSST NNNSSN NNVNNC UUNNNN SSWXXW| See where the Thames the purest stream | A |
| That wavers to the noon day beam | A |
| Divides the vale below | B |
| While like a vein of liquid ore | C |
| His waves enrich the happy shore | C |
| Still shining as they flow | B |
| - | |
| Nor yet my Delia to the main | D |
| Runs the sweet tide without a stain | D |
| Unsullied as it seems | E |
| Thy nymphs of many a sable flood | F |
| Deform with streaks of oozy mud | F |
| The bosom of the Thames | G |
| - | |
| Some idle rivulets that feed | H |
| And suckle every noisome weed | H |
| A sandy bottom boast | I |
| For ever bright for ever clear | J |
| Tho trifling shallow rills appear | J |
| In their own channel lost | K |
| - | |
| Thus fares it with the human soul | L |
| Where copious floods of passion roll | L |
| By genuine love supplied | M |
| Fair in itself the current shows | N |
| But ah a thousand anxious woes | N |
| Pollute the noble tide | M |
| - | |
| These are emotions known to few | O |
| For where at most a vapoury dew | O |
| Surrounds the tranquil heart | P |
| Then as the triflers never prove | Q |
| The glad excess of real love | R |
| They never prove the smart | P |
| - | |
| O then my life at last relent | S |
| Though cruel the reproach I sent | S |
| My sorrow was unfeigned | S |
| Your passion had I loved you not | S |
| You might have scorned renounced forgot | S |
| And I had ne'er complained | S |
| - | |
| While you indulge a groundless fear | J |
| The imaginary woes you bear | T |
| Are real woes to me | U |
| But thou art kind and good thou art | S |
| Nor wilt by wronging thine own heart | S |
| Unjustly punish me | U |
| - | |
| How blessed the youth whom fate ordains | N |
| A kind relief from all his pains | N |
| In some admired fair | T |
| Whose tenderest wishes find expressed | S |
| Their own resemblance in her breast | S |
| Exactly copied there | T |
| - | |
| What good soe'er the gods dispense | N |
| The enjoyment of its influence | N |
| Still on her love depends | N |
| Her love the shield that guards his heart | S |
| Or wards the blow or blunts the dart | S |
| That peevish fortune sends | N |
| - | |
| Thus Delia while thy love endures | N |
| The flame my happy breast secures | N |
| From fortune's fickle power | V |
| Change as she list she may increase | N |
| But not abate my happiness | N |
| Confirmed by thee before | C |
| - | |
| Thus while I share her smiles with thee | U |
| Welcome my love shall ever be | U |
| The favours she bestows | N |
| Yet not on those I found my bliss | N |
| But in the noble ecstasies | N |
| The faithful bosom knows | N |
| - | |
| And when she prunes her wings for flight | S |
| And flutters nimbly from my sight | S |
| Contented I resign | W |
| Whate'er she gave thy love alone | X |
| I can securely call my own | X |
| Happy while that is mine | W |
William Cowper
(1)
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