The Innocent Thief Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH IJIJ KLKL MNMN| Not a flower can be found in the fields | A |
| Or the spot that we till for our pleasure | B |
| From the largest to the least but it yields | A |
| The bee never wearied a treasure | B |
| - | |
| Scarce any she quits unexplored | C |
| With a diligence truly exact | D |
| Yet steal what she may for her hoard | C |
| Leaves evidence none of the fact | D |
| - | |
| Her lucrative task she pursues | E |
| And pilfers with so much address | F |
| That none of their odour they lose | E |
| Nor charm by their beauty the less | F |
| - | |
| Not thus inoffensively preys | G |
| The cankerworm in dwelling foe | H |
| His voracity not thus allays | G |
| The sparrow the finch or the crow | H |
| - | |
| The worm more expensively fed | I |
| The pride of the garden devours | J |
| And birds peck the seed from the bed | I |
| Still less to be spared than the flowers | J |
| - | |
| But she with such delicate skill | K |
| Her pillage so fits for her use | L |
| That the chemist in vain with his still | K |
| Would labour the like to produce | L |
| - | |
| Then grudge not her temperate meals | M |
| Nor a benefit blame as a theft | N |
| Since stole she not all that she steals | M |
| Neither honey nor wax would be left | N |
William Cowper
(1)
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