The Task: Book Iv. -- The Winter Evening Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOFPQRQ STJQSSUSQSVSTSW SSIQLJQSQXYZXQA2QSB2 C2D2QASQQQE2ISC2SQQQ QQQF2XSB2QG2QXSQQQQS S SH2SQSF2QSSTSSI2SSJ2 QSSSSTQSLSK2QSQL2S M2SQQQN2QQSO2SCQRQQP 2SQQQQ2QR2QSQQSC2S2H 2T2QSB2R2QO2SQSSRU2V 2QQV2SSQSW2X2QY2SSQWHark tis the twanging horn o er yonder bridge | A |
That with its wearisome but needful length | B |
Bestrides the wintry flood in which the moon | C |
Sees her unwrinkled face reflected bright | D |
He comes the herald of a noisy world | E |
With spatter d boots strapp d waist and frozen locks | F |
News from all nations lumbering at his back | G |
True to his charge the close pack d load behind | H |
Yet careless what he brings his one concern | I |
Is to conduct it to the destined inn | J |
And having dropp d the expected bag pass on | K |
He whistles as he goes light hearted wretch | L |
Cold and yet cheerful messenger of grief | M |
Perhaps to thousands and of joy to some | N |
To him indifferent whether grief or joy | O |
Houses in ashes and the fall of stocks | F |
Births deaths and marriages epistles wet | P |
With tears that trickled down the writer s cheeks | Q |
Fast as the periods from his fluent quill | R |
Or charged with amorous sighs of absent swains | Q |
Or nymphs responsive equally affect | S |
His horse and him unconscious of them all | T |
But O the important budget usher d in | J |
With such heart shaking music who can say | Q |
What are its tidings have our troops awaked | S |
Or do they still as if with opium drugg d | S |
Snore to the murmurs of the Atlantic wave | U |
Is India free and does she wear her plumed | S |
And jewell d turban with a smile of peace | Q |
Or do we grind her still The grand debate | S |
The popular harangue the tart reply | V |
The logic and the wisdom and the wit | S |
And the loud laugh I long to know them all | T |
I burn to set the imprison d wranglers free | S |
And give them voice and utterance once again | W |
- | |
Now stir the fire and close the shutters fast | S |
Let fall the curtains wheel the sofa round | S |
And while the bubbling and loud hissing urn | I |
Throws up a steamy column and the cups | Q |
That cheer but not inebriate wait on each | L |
So let us welcome peaceful evening in | J |
Not such his evening who with shining face | Q |
Sweats in the crowded theatre and squeezed | S |
And bored with elbow points through both his sides | Q |
Outscolds the ranting actor on the stage | X |
Nor his who patient stands till his feet throb | Y |
And his head thumps to feed upon the breath | Z |
Of patriots bursting with heroic rage | X |
Or placemen all tranquillity and smiles | Q |
This folio of four pages happy work | A2 |
Which not e en critics criticise that holds | Q |
Inquisitive attention while I read | S |
Fast bound in chains of silence which the fair | B2 |
Though eloquent themselves yet fear to break | C2 |
What is it but a map of busy life | D2 |
Its fluctuations and its vast concerns | Q |
Here runs the mountainous and craggy ridge | A |
That tempts Ambition On the summit see | S |
The seals of office glitter in his eyes | Q |
He climbs he pants he grasps them At his heels | Q |
Close at his heels a demagogue ascends | Q |
And with a dexterous jerk soon twists him down | E2 |
And wins them but to lose them in his turn | I |
Here rills of oily eloquence in soft | S |
Meanders lubricate the course they take | C2 |
The modest speaker is ashamed and grieved | S |
To engross a moment s notice and yet begs | Q |
Begs a propitious ear for his poor thoughts | Q |
However trivial all that he conceives | Q |
Sweet bashfulness it claims at least this praise | Q |
The dearth of information and good sense | Q |
That it foretells us always comes to pass | Q |
Cataracts of declamation thunder here | F2 |
There forests of no meaning spread the page | X |
In which all comprehension wanders lost | S |
While fields of pleasantry amuse us there | B2 |
With merry descants on a nation s woes | Q |
The rest appears a wilderness of strange | G2 |
But gay confusion roses for the cheeks | Q |
And lilies for the brows of faded age | X |
Teeth for the toothless ringlets for the bald | S |
Heaven earth and ocean plunder d of their sweets | Q |
Nectareous essences Olympian dews | Q |
Sermons and city feasts and favourite airs | Q |
thereal journeys submarine exploits | Q |
And Katerfelto with his hair on end | S |
At his own wonders wondering for his bread | S |
- | |
Tis pleasant through the loopholes of retreat | S |
To peep at such a world to see the stir | H2 |
Of the great Babel and not feel the crowd | S |
To hear the roar she sends through all her gates | Q |
At a safe distance where the dying sound | S |
Falls a soft murmur on the uninjured ear | F2 |
Thus sitting and surveying thus at ease | Q |
The globe and its concerns I seem advanced | S |
To some secure and more than mortal height | S |
That liberates and exempts me from them all | T |
It turns submitted to my view turns round | S |
With all its generations I behold | S |
The tumult and am still The sound of war | I2 |
Has lost its terrors ere it reaches me | S |
Grieves but alarms me not I mourn the pride | S |
And avarice that make man a wolf to man | J2 |
Hear the faint echo of those brazen throats | Q |
By which he speaks the language of his heart | S |
And sigh but never tremble at the sound | S |
He travels and expatiates as the bee | S |
From flower to flower so he from land to land | S |
The manners customs policy of all | T |
Pay contribution to the store he gleans | Q |
He sucks intelligence in every clime | S |
And spreads the honey of his deep research | L |
At his return a rich repast for me | S |
He travels and I too I tread his deck | K2 |
Ascend his topmast through his peering eyes | Q |
Discover countries with a kindred heart | S |
Suffer his woes and share in his escapes | Q |
While fancy like the finger of a clock | L2 |
Runs the great circuit and is still at home | S |
- | |
O Winter ruler of the inverted year | M2 |
Thy scatter d hair with sleet like ashes fill d | S |
Thy breath congeal d upon thy lips thy cheeks | Q |
Fringed with a beard made white with other snows | Q |
Than those of age thy forehead wrapp d in clouds | Q |
A leafless branch thy sceptre and thy throne | N2 |
A sliding car indebted to no wheels | Q |
But urged by storms along its slippery way | Q |
I love thee all unlovely as thou seem st | S |
And dreaded as thou art Thou hold st the sun | O2 |
A prisoner in the yet undawning east | S |
Shortening his journey between morn and noon | C |
And hurrying him impatient of his stay | Q |
Down to the rosy west but kindly still | R |
Compensating his loss with added hours | Q |
Of social converse and instructive ease | Q |
And gathering at short notice in one group | P2 |
The family dispersed and fixing thought | S |
Not less dispersed by daylight and its cares | Q |
I crown thee king of intimate delights | Q |
Fireside enjoyments homeborn happiness | Q |
And all the comforts that the lowly roof | Q2 |
Of undisturb d Retirement and the hours | Q |
Of long uninterrupted evening know | R2 |
No rattling wheels stop short before these gates | Q |
No powder d pert proficient in the art | S |
Of sounding an alarm assaults these doors | Q |
Till the street rings no stationary steeds | Q |
Cough their own knell while heedless of the sound | S |
The silent circle fan themselves and quake | C2 |
But here the needle plies its busy task | S2 |
The pattern grows the well depicted flower | H2 |
Wrought patiently into the snowy lawn | T2 |
Unfolds its bosom buds and leaves and sprigs | Q |
And curling tendrils gracefully disposed | S |
Follow the nimble finger of the fair | B2 |
A wreath that cannot fade of flowers that blow | R2 |
With most success when all besides decay | Q |
The poet s or historian s page by one | O2 |
Made vocal for the amusement of the rest | S |
The sprightly lyre whose treasure of sweet sounds | Q |
The touch from many a trembling chord shakes out | S |
And the clear voice symphonious yet distinct | S |
And in the charming strife triumphant still | R |
Beguile the night and set a keener edge | U2 |
On female industry the threaded steel | V2 |
Flies swiftly and unfelt the task proceeds | Q |
The volume closed the customary rites | Q |
Of the last meal commence A Roman meal | V2 |
Such as the mistress of the world once found | S |
Delicious when her patriots of high note | S |
Perhaps by moonlight at their humble doors | Q |
And under an old oak s domestic shade | S |
Enjoy d spare feast a radish and an egg | W2 |
Discourse ensues not trivial yet not dull | X2 |
Nor such as with a frown forbids the play | Q |
Of fancy or proscribes the sound of mirth | Y2 |
Nor do we madly like an impious world | S |
Who deem religion frenzy and the God | S |
That made them an intruder on their joys | Q |
Start at his awful n | W |
William Cowper
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