The Four Ages. Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCDEFGHIJHKLMBMMNMOP QRSTUVWXYQZA2B2C2D2Q E2F2| a brief fragment of an extensive projected poem | A |
| - | |
| - | |
| I could be well content allowed the use | B |
| Of past experience and the wisdom glean'd | C |
| From worn out follies now acknowledged such | D |
| To recommence life's trial in the hope | E |
| Of fewer errors on a second proof | F |
| Thus while grey evening lull'd the wind and call'd | G |
| Fresh odours from the shrubbery at my side | H |
| Taking my lonely winding walk I mused | I |
| And held accustom'd conference with my heart | J |
| When from within it thus a voice replied | H |
| Could'st thou in truth and art thou taught at length | K |
| This wisdom and but this from all the past | L |
| Is not the pardon of thy long arrear | M |
| Time wasted violated laws abuse | B |
| Of talents judgment mercies better far | M |
| Than opportunity vouchsafed to err | M |
| With less excuse and haply worse effect | N |
| I heard and acquiesced then to and fro | M |
| Oft pacing as the mariner his deck | O |
| My gravelly bounds from self to human kind | P |
| I pass'd and next consider'd what is man | Q |
| Knows he his origin can he ascend | R |
| By reminiscence to his earliest date | S |
| Slept he in Adam And in those from him | T |
| Through numerous generations till he found | U |
| At length his destined moment to be born | V |
| Or was he not till fashion'd in the womb | W |
| Deep mysteries both which schoolmen must have toil'd | X |
| To unriddle and have left them mysteries still | Y |
| It is an evil incident to man | Q |
| And of the worst that unexplored he leaves | Z |
| Truths useful and attainable with ease | A2 |
| To search forbidden deeps where mystery lies | B2 |
| Not to be solved and useless if it might | C2 |
| Mysteries are food for angels they digest | D2 |
| With ease and find them nutriment but man | Q |
| While yet he dwells below must stoop to glean | E2 |
| His manna from the ground or starve and die | F2 |
William Cowper
(1)
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