Truth Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEEFGHHCCIJKK LLMMKKKNNOPQARRSSTTU UVVWXYYSSFFZZA2A2B2B 2KKC2C2D2E2F2F2G2G2H 2H2H2RRI2I2CCJ2J2K2K 2KKL2L2M2M2N2N2O2O2K P2CCQ2R2S2S2T2M2IIU2 U2V2V2W2W2CCKKE2D2X2 X2H2H2Y2Y2FFCCCCCCD2 E2V2B2CCSSCCCCZ2Z2CC A3A3B3C3D3D3E3E3F3F3 W2W2B2SG3H3CCI3I3J3J 3CCK3K3L3L3CCSSJ2J2V 2KMan on the dubious waves of error toss'd | A |
His ship half founder'd and his compass lost | A |
Sees far as human optics may command | B |
A sleeping fog and fancies it dry land | B |
Spreads all his canvas every sinew plies | C |
Pants for it aims at it enters it and dies | C |
Then farewell all self satisfying schemes | D |
His well built systems philosophic dreams | D |
Deceitful views of future bliss farewell | E |
He reads his sentence at the flames of hell | E |
Hard lot of man to toil for the reward | F |
Of virtue and yet lose it Wherefore hard | G |
He that would win the race must guide his horse | H |
Obedient to the customs of the course | H |
Else though unequall d to the goal he flies | C |
A meaner than himself shall gain the prize | C |
Grace leads the right way if you choose the wrong | I |
Take it and perish but restrain your tongue | J |
Charge not with light sufficient and left free | K |
Your wilful suicide on God s decree | K |
O how unlike the complex works of man | L |
Heav n s easy artless unencumber d plan | L |
No meretricious graces to beguile | M |
No clustering ornaments to clog the pile | M |
From ostentation as from weakness free | K |
It stands like the cerulian arch we see | K |
Majestic in its own simplicity | K |
Inscribed above the portal from afar | N |
Conspicuous as the brightness of a star | N |
Legible only by the light they give | O |
Stand the soul quickening words believe and live | P |
Too many shock d at what should charm them most | Q |
Despise the plain direction and are lost | A |
Heaven on such terms they cry with proud disdain | R |
Incredible impossible and vain | R |
Rebel because tis easy to obey | S |
And scorn for its own sake the gracious way | S |
These are the sober in whose cooler brains | T |
Some thought of immortality remains | T |
The rest too busy or too gay to wait | U |
On the sad theme their everlasting state | U |
Sport for a day and perish in a night | V |
The foam upon the waters not so light | V |
Who judged the Pharisee What odious cause | W |
Exposed him to the vengeance of the laws | X |
Had he seduced a virgin wrong d a friend | Y |
Or stabb d a man to serve some private end | Y |
Was blasphemy his sin Or did he stray | S |
From the strict duties of the sacred day | S |
Sit long and late at the carousing board | F |
Such were the sins with which he charged his Lord | F |
No the man s morals were exact What then | Z |
Twas his ambition to be seen of men | Z |
His virtues were his pride and that one vice | A2 |
Made all his virtues gewgaws of no price | A2 |
He wore them as fine trappings for a show | B2 |
A praying synagogue frequenting beau | B2 |
The self applauding bird the peacock see | K |
Mark what a sumptuous pharisee is he | K |
Meridian sunbeams tempt him to unfold | C2 |
His radiant glories azure green and gold | C2 |
He treads as if some solemn music near | D2 |
His measured step were govern d by his ear | E2 |
And seems to say Ye meaner fowl give place | F2 |
I am all splendour dignity and grace | F2 |
Not so the pheasant on his charms presumes | G2 |
Though he too has a glory in his plumes | G2 |
He Christian like retreats with modest mien | H2 |
To the close copse or far sequester d green | H2 |
And shines without desiring to be seen | H2 |
The plea of works as arrogant and vain | R |
Heaven turns from with abhorrence and disdain | R |
Not more affronted by avow d neglect | I2 |
Than by the mere dissembler s feign d respect | I2 |
What is all righteousness that men devise | C |
What but a sordid bargain for the skies | C |
But Christ as soon would abdicate his own | J2 |
As stoop from heaven to sell the proud a throne | J2 |
His dwelling a recess in some rude rock | K2 |
Book beads and maple dish his meagre stock | K2 |
In shirt of hair and weeds of canvas dress d | K |
Girt with a bell rope that the Pope has bless d | K |
Adust with stripes told out for every crime | L2 |
And sore tormented long before his time | L2 |
His prayer preferr d to saints that cannot aid | M2 |
His praise postponed and never to be paid | M2 |
See the sage hermit by mankind admired | N2 |
With all that bigotry adopts inspired | N2 |
Wearing out life in his religious whim | O2 |
Till his religious whimsy wears out him | O2 |
His works his abstinence his zeal allow d | K |
You think him humble God accounts him proud | P2 |
High in demand though lowly in pretence | C |
Of all his conduct this the genuine sense | C |
My penitential stripes my streaming blood | Q2 |
Have purchased heaven and proved my title good | R2 |
Turn eastward now and fancy shall apply | S2 |
To your weak sight her telescopic eye | S2 |
The Bramin kindles on his own bare head | T2 |
The sacred fire self torturing his trade | M2 |
His voluntary pains severe and long | I |
Would give a barbarous air to British song | I |
No grand inquisitor could worse invent | U2 |
Than he contrives to suffer well content | U2 |
Which is the saintlier worthy of the two | V2 |
Past all dispute yon anchorite say you | V2 |
Your sentence and mine differ What s a name | W2 |
I say the Bramin has the fairer claim | W2 |
If sufferings Scripture nowhere recommends | C |
Devised by self to answer selfish ends | C |
Give saintship then all Europe must agree | K |
Ten starveling hermits suffer less than he | K |
The truth is if the truth may suit your ear | E2 |
And prejudice have left a passage clear | D2 |
Pride has attain d a most luxuriant growth | X2 |
And poison d every virtue in them both | X2 |
Pride may be pamper d while the flesh grows lean | H2 |
Humility may clothe an English dean | H2 |
That grace was Cowper s his confess d by all | Y2 |
Though placed in golden Durham s second stall | Y2 |
Not all the plenty of a bishop s board | F |
His palace and his lacqueys and My Lord | F |
More nourish pride that condescending vice | C |
Than abstinence and beggary and lice | C |
It thrives in misery and abundant grows | C |
In misery fools upon themselves impose | C |
But why before us Protestants produce | C |
An Indian mystic or a French recluse | C |
Their sin is plain but what have we to fear | D2 |
Reform d and well instructed You shall hear | E2 |
Yon ancient prude whose wither d features shew | V2 |
She might be young some forty years ago | B2 |
Her elbows pinion d close upon her hips | C |
Her head erect her fan upon her lips | C |
Her eyebrows arch d her eyes both gone astray | S |
To watch yon amorous couple in their play | S |
With bony and unkerchief d neck defies | C |
The rude inclemency of wintry skies | C |
And sails with lappet head and mincing airs | C |
Duly at clink of bell to morning prayers | C |
To thrift and parsimony much inclined | Z2 |
She yet allows herself that boy behind | Z2 |
The shivering urchin bending as he goes | C |
With slipshod heels and dewdrop at his nose | C |
His predecessor s coat advanced to wear | A3 |
Which future pages yet are doom d to share | A3 |
Carries her Bible tuck d beneath his arm | B3 |
And hides his hands to keep his fingers warm | C3 |
She half an angel in her own account | D3 |
Doubts not hereafter with the saints to mount | D3 |
Though not a grace appears on strictest search | E3 |
But that she fasts and item goes to church | E3 |
Conscious of age she recollects her youth | F3 |
And tells not always with an eye to truth | F3 |
Who spann d her waist and who where er he came | W2 |
Scrawl d upon glass Miss Bridget s lovely name | W2 |
Who stole her slipper fill d it with tokay | B2 |
And drank the little bumper every day | S |
Of temper as envenom d as an asp | G3 |
Censorious and her every word a wasp | H3 |
In faithful memory she records the crimes | C |
Or real or fictitious of the times | C |
Laughs at the reputations she has torn | I3 |
And holds them dangling at arm s length in scorn | I3 |
Such are the fruits of sanctimonious pride | J3 |
Of malice fed while flesh is mortified | J3 |
Take madam the reward of all your prayers | C |
Where hermits and where Bramins meet with theirs | C |
Your portion is with them Nay never frown | K3 |
But if you please some fathoms lower down | K3 |
Artist attend your brushes and your paint | L3 |
Produce them take a chair now draw a saint | L3 |
Oh sorrowful and sad the streaming tears | C |
Channel her cheeks a Niobe appears | C |
Is this a saint Throw tints and all away | S |
True piety is cheerful as the day | S |
Will weep indeed and heave a pitying groan | J2 |
For others woes but smiles upon her own | J2 |
What purpose has the King of saints in view | V2 |
Why falls the gospel like a gracious d | K |
William Cowper
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