Table Talk Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEFGGHHIJKLMM NNGGOOPPQQRSTTUUVVSS WWXXYYZZA2A2B2B2C2D2 E2E2XXXXFFXXXXC2C2F2 F2G2G2XXNNH2I2J2MBBK 2K2L2L2XXM2M2XXN2N2O 2O2QQXXP2P2Q2R2S2S2T 2T2NNXXU2U2Q2V2S2S2Z ZD2C2W2W2XXX2X2Y2Y2Z 2Z2XXA3A3C2D2O2O2XXL KUUB3C3XXCCD3D3E3E3N 2N2XXXXXX2X2Q2Q2XXXX F3G3CCXXH3H3QQE3E3XYA You told me I remember glory built | A |
On selfish principles is shame and guilt | A |
The deeds that men admire as half divine | B |
Stark naught because corrupt in their design | B |
Strange doctrine this that without scruple tears | C |
The laurel that the very lightning spares | C |
Brings down the warrior s trophy to the dust | D |
And eats into his bloody sword like rust | D |
B I grant that men continuing what they are | E |
Fierce avaricious proud there must be war | F |
And never meant the rule should be applied | G |
To him that fights with justice on his side | G |
Let laurels drench d in pure Parnassian dews | H |
Reward his memory dear to every muse | H |
Who with a courage of unshaken root | I |
In honour s field advancing his firm foot | J |
Plants it upon the line that Justice draws | K |
And will prevail or perish in her cause | L |
Tis to the virtues of such men man owes | M |
His portion in the good that Heaven bestows | M |
And when recording History displays | N |
Feats of renown though wrought in ancient days | N |
Tells of a few stout hearts that fought and died | G |
Where duty placed them at their country s side | G |
The man that is not moved with what he reads | O |
That takes not fire at their heroic deeds | O |
Unworthy of the blessings of the brave | P |
Is base in kind and born to be a slave | P |
But let eternal infamy pursue | Q |
The wretch to nought but his ambition true | Q |
Who for the sake of filling with one blast | R |
The post horns of all Europe lays her waste | S |
Think yourself station d on a towering rock | T |
To see a people scatter d like a flock | T |
Some royal mastiff panting at their heels | U |
With all the savage thirst a tiger feels | U |
Then view him self proclaim d in a gazette | V |
Chief monster that has plagued the nations yet | V |
The globe and sceptre in such hands misplaced | S |
Those ensigns of dominion how disgraced | S |
The glass that bids man mark the fleeting hour | W |
And Death s own scythe would better speak his power | W |
Then grace the bony phantom in their stead | X |
With the king s shoulder knot and gay cockade | X |
Clothe the twin brethren in each other s dress | Y |
The same their occupation and success | Y |
A Tis your belief the world was made for man | Z |
Kings do but reason on the self same plan | Z |
Maintaining yours you cannot theirs condemn | A2 |
Who think or seem to think man made for them | A2 |
B Seldom alas the power of logic reigns | B2 |
With much sufficiency in royal brains | B2 |
Such reasoning falls like an inverted cone | C2 |
Wanting its proper base to stand upon | D2 |
Man made for kings those optics are but dim | E2 |
That tell you so say rather they for him | E2 |
That were indeed a king ennobling thought | X |
Could they or would they reason as they ought | X |
The diadem with mighty projects lined | X |
To catch renown by ruining mankind | X |
Is worth with all its gold and glittering store | F |
Just what the toy will sell for and no more | F |
Oh bright occasions of dispensing good | X |
How seldom used how little understood | X |
To pour in Virtue s lap her just reward | X |
Keep Vice restrain d behind a double guard | X |
To quell the faction that affronts the throne | C2 |
By silent magnanimity alone | C2 |
To nurse with tender care the thriving arts | F2 |
Watch every beam Philosophy imparts | F2 |
To give religion her unbridled scope | G2 |
Nor judge by statute a believer s hope | G2 |
With close fidelity and love unfeign d | X |
To keep the matrimonial bond unstain d | X |
Covetous only of a virtuous praise | N |
His life a lesson to the land he sways | N |
To touch the sword with conscientious awe | H2 |
Nor draw it but when duty bids him draw | I2 |
To sheath it in the peace restoring close | J2 |
With joy beyond what victory bestows | M |
Blest country where these kingly glories shine | B |
Blest England if this happiness be thine | B |
A Guard what you say the patriotic tribe | K2 |
Will sneer and charge you with a bribe B A bribe | K2 |
The worth of his three kingdoms I defy | L2 |
To lure me to the baseness of a lie | L2 |
And of all lies be that one poet s boast | X |
The lie that flatters I abhor the most | X |
Those arts be theirs who hate his gentle reign | M2 |
But he that loves him has no need to feign | M2 |
A Your smooth eulogium to one crown address d | X |
Seems to imply a censure on the rest | X |
B Quevedo as he tells his sober tale | N2 |
Ask d when in hell to see the royal jail | N2 |
Approved their method in all other things | O2 |
But where good sir do you confine your kings | O2 |
There said his guide the group is in full view | Q |
Indeed replied the don there are but few | Q |
His black interpreter the charge disdain d | X |
Few fellow there are all that ever reign d | X |
Wit undistinguishing is apt to strike | P2 |
The guilty and not guilty both alike | P2 |
I grant the sarcasm is too severe | Q2 |
And we can readily refute it here | R2 |
While Alfred s name the father of his age | S2 |
And the Sixth Edward s grace the historic page | S2 |
A Kings then at last have but the lot of all | T2 |
By their own conduct they must stand or fall | T2 |
B True While they live the courtly laureate pays | N |
His quitrent ode his peppercorn of praise | N |
And many a dunce whose fingers itch to write | X |
Adds as he can his tributary mite | X |
A subject s faults a subject may proclaim | U2 |
A monarch s errors are forbidden game | U2 |
Thus free from censure overawed by fear | Q2 |
And praised for virtues that they scorn to wear | V2 |
The fleeting forms of majesty engage | S2 |
Respect while stalking o er life s narrow stage | S2 |
Then leave their crimes for history to scan | Z |
And ask with busy scorn Was this the man | Z |
I pity kings whom worship waits upon | D2 |
Obsequious from the cradle to the throne | C2 |
Before whose infant eyes the flatterer bows | W2 |
And binds a wreath about their baby brows | W2 |
Whom education stiffens into state | X |
And death awakens from that dream too late | X |
Oh if servility with supple knees | X2 |
Whose trade it is to smile to crouch to please | X2 |
If smooth dissimulation skill d to grace | Y2 |
A devil s purpose with an angel s face | Y2 |
If smiling peeresses and simpering peers | Z2 |
Encompassing his throne a few short years | Z2 |
If the gilt carriage and the pamper d steed | X |
That wants no driving and disdains the lead | X |
If guards mechanically form d in ranks | A3 |
Playing at beat of drum their martial pranks | A3 |
Shouldering and standing as if stuck to stone | C2 |
While condescending majesty looks on | D2 |
If monarchy consist in such base things | O2 |
Sighing I say again I pity kings | O2 |
To be suspected thwarted and withstood | X |
E en when he labours for his country s good | X |
To see a band call d patriot for no cause | L |
But that they catch at popular applause | K |
Careless of all the anxiety he feels | U |
Hook disappointment on the public wheels | U |
With all their flippant fluency of tongue | B3 |
Most confident when palpably most wrong | C3 |
If this be kingly then farewell for me | X |
All kingship and may I be poor and free | X |
To be the Table Talk of clubs up stairs | C |
To which the unwash d artificer repairs | C |
To indulge his genius after long fatigue | D3 |
By diving into cabinet intrigue | D3 |
For what kings deem a toil as well they may | E3 |
To him is relaxation and mere play | E3 |
To win no praise when well wrought plans prevail | N2 |
But to be rudely censured when they fail | N2 |
To doubt the love his favourites may pretend | X |
And in reality to find no friend | X |
If he indulge a cultivated taste | X |
His galleries with the works of art well graced | X |
To hear it call d extravagance and waste | X |
If these attendants and if such as these | X2 |
Must follow royalty then welcome ease | X2 |
However humble and confined the sphere | Q2 |
Happy the state that has not these to fear | Q2 |
A Thus men whose thoughts contemplative have dwelt | X |
On situations that they never felt | X |
Start up sagacious cover d with the dust | X |
Of dreaming study and pedantic rust | X |
And prate and preach about what others prove | F3 |
As if the world and they were hand and glove | G3 |
Leave kingly backs to cope with kingly cares | C |
They have their weight to carry subjects theirs | C |
Poets of all men ever least regret | X |
Increasing taxes and the nation s debt | X |
Could you contrive the payment and rehearse | H3 |
The mighty plan oracular in verse | H3 |
No bard howe er majestic old or new | Q |
Should claim my fix d attention more than you | Q |
B Not Brindley nor Bridgewater would essay | E3 |
To turn the course of Helicon that way | E3 |
Nor would the Nine consent the sacred tide | X |
S | Y |
William Cowper
(1)
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