The Task: Book Iv. -- The Winter Evening Poem Rhyme Scheme

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Hark 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

The Task: Book Iv. -- The Winter Evening Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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