The Valediction Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDEFFGGHHIIHHBB JJKLMMNNJOPPQQRRSTJJ JJJJUUJJJJVVWWXXJJJJ YZA2A2SSAAQB2YZJJC2C 2JJJJSSJJD2D2RRJJJJE 2E2F2F2JJ

Farewell false hearts whose best affections failA
Like shallow brooks which summer suns exhaleA
Forgetful of the man whom once ye choseB
Cold in his cause and careless of his woesB
I bid you both a long and last adieuC
Cold in my turn and unconcerned like youC
First farewell Niger whom now duly provedD
I disregard as much as I have lovedE
Your brain well furnished and your tongue well taughtF
To press with energy your ardent thoughtF
Your senatorial dignity of faceG
Sound sense intrepid spirit manly graceG
Have raised you high as talents can ascendH
Made you a peer but spoilt you for a friendH
Pretend to all that parts have e'er acquiredI
Be great be feared be envied be admiredI
To fame as lasting as the earth pretendH
But not hereafter to the name of friendH
I sent you verse and as your lordship knowsB
Backed with a modest sheet of humble proseB
Not to recall a promise to your mindJ
Fulfilled with ease had you been so inclinedJ
But to comply with feelings and to giveK
Proof of an old affection still aliveL
Your sullen silence serves at least to tellM
Your altered heart and so my lord farewellM
Next busy actor on a meaner stageN
Amusement monger of a trifling ageN
Illustrious histrionic patenteeJ
Terentius once my friend farewell to theeO
In thee some virtuous qualities combineP
To fit thee for a nobler post than thineP
Who born a gentleman hast stooped too lowQ
To live by buskin sock and raree showQ
Thy schoolfellow and partner of thy playsR
When Nichol swung the birch and twined the baysR
And having known thee bearded and full grownS
The weekly censor of a laughing townT
I thought the volume I presumed to sendJ
Graced with the name of a long absent friendJ
Might prove a welcome gift and touch thine heartJ
Not hard by nature in a feeling partJ
But thou it seems what cannot grandeur doJ
Though but a dream art grown disdainful tooJ
And strutting in thy school of queens and kingsU
Who fret their hour and are forgotten thingsU
Hast caught the cold distemper of the dayJ
And like his lordship cast thy friend awayJ
O Friendship cordial of the human breastJ
So little felt so fervently professedJ
Thy blossoms deck our unsuspecting yearsV
The promise of delicious fruit appearsV
We hug the hopes of constancy and truthW
Such is the folly of our dreaming youthW
But soon alas detect the rash mistakeX
That sanguine inexperience loves to makeX
And view with tears the expected harvest lostJ
Decayed by time or withered by a frostJ
Whoever undertakes a friend's great partJ
Should be renewed in nature pure in heartJ
Prepared for martyrdom and strong to proveY
A thousand ways the force of genuine loveZ
He may be called to give up health and gainA2
To exchange content for trouble ease for painA2
To echo sigh for sigh and groan for groanS
And wet his cheeks with sorrows not his ownS
The heart of man for such a task too frailA
When most relied on is most sure to failA
And summoned to partake its fellow's woeQ
Starts from its office like a broken bowB2
Votaries of business and of pleasure proveY
Faithless alike in friendship and in loveZ
Retired from all the circles of the gayJ
And all the crowds that bustle life awayJ
To scenes where competition envy strifeC2
Beget no thunder clouds to trouble lifeC2
Let me the charge of some good angel findJ
One who has known and has escaped mankindJ
Polite yet virtuous who has brought awayJ
The manners not the morals of the dayJ
With him perhaps with her for men have knownS
No firmer friendships than the fair have shownS
Let me enjoy in some unthought of spotJ
All former friends forgiven and forgotJ
Down to the close of life's fast fading sceneD2
Union of hearts without a flaw betweenD2
'Tis grace 'tis bounty and it calls for praiseR
If God give health that sunshine of our daysR
And if he add a blessing shared by fewJ
Content of heart more praises still are dueJ
But if he grant a friend that boon possessedJ
Indeed is treasure and crowns all the restJ
And giving one whose heart is in the skiesE2
Born from above and made divinely wiseE2
He gives what bankrupt nature never canF2
Whose noblest coin is light and brittle manF2
Gold purer far than Ophir ever knewJ
A soul an image of himself and therefore trueJ

William Cowper



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