To A Musquito Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABCC DCDCCC EFEFGG HIHIJJ KEKECC JCJCEE CECELM NCNCOO PCPCCC MGLGQQ CCCCRS TETEUU| Fair insect that with threadlike legs spread out | A |
| And blood extracting bill and filmy wing | B |
| Does murmur as thou slowly sail'st about | A |
| In pitiless ears full many a plaintive thing | B |
| And tell how little our large veins should bleed | C |
| Would we but yield them to thy bitter need | C |
| - | |
| Unwillingly I own and what is worse | D |
| Full angrily men hearken to thy plaint | C |
| Thou gettest many a brush and many a curse | D |
| For saying thou art gaunt and starved and faint | C |
| Even the old beggar while he asks for food | C |
| Would kill thee hapless stranger if he could | C |
| - | |
| I call thee stranger for the town I ween | E |
| Has not the honour of so proud a birth | F |
| Thou com'st from Jersey meadows fresh and green | E |
| The offspring of the gods though born on earth | F |
| For Titan was thy sire and fair was she | G |
| The ocean nymph that nursed thy infancy | G |
| - | |
| Beneath the rushes was thy cradle swung | H |
| And when at length thy gauzy wings grew strong | I |
| Abroad to gentle airs their folds were flung | H |
| Rose in the sky and bore thee soft along | I |
| The south wind breathed to waft thee on thy way | J |
| And danced and shone beneath the billowy bay | J |
| - | |
| Calm rose afar the city spires and thence | K |
| Came the deep murmur of its throng of men | E |
| And as its grateful odours met thy sense | K |
| They seemed the perfumes of thy native fen | E |
| Fair lay its crowded streets and at the sight | C |
| Thy tiny song grew shriller with delight | C |
| - | |
| At length thy pinions fluttered in Broadway | J |
| Ah there were fairy steps and white necks kissed | C |
| By wanton airs and eyes whose killing ray | J |
| Shone through the snowy veils like stars through mist | C |
| And fresh as morn on many a cheek and chin | E |
| Bloomed the bright blood through the transparent skin | E |
| - | |
| Sure these were sights to touch an anchorite | C |
| What do I hear thy slender voice complain | E |
| Thou wailest when I talk of beauty's light | C |
| As if it brought the memory of pain | E |
| Thou art a wayward being well come near | L |
| And pour thy tale of sorrow in my ear | M |
| - | |
| What sayst thou slanderer rouge makes thee sick | N |
| And China bloom at best is sorry food | C |
| And Rowland's Kalydor if laid on thick | N |
| Poisons the thirsty wretch that bores for blood | C |
| Go 'twas a just reward that met thy crime | O |
| But shun the sacrilege another time | O |
| - | |
| That bloom was made to look at not to touch | P |
| To worship not approach that radiant white | C |
| And well might sudden vengeance light on such | P |
| As dared like thee most impiously to bite | C |
| Thou shouldst have gazed at distance and admired | C |
| Murmured thy adoration and retired | C |
| - | |
| Thou'rt welcome to the town but why come here | M |
| To bleed a brother poet gaunt like thee | G |
| Alas the little blood I have is dear | L |
| And thin will be the banquet drawn from me | G |
| Look round the pale eyed sisters in my cell | Q |
| Thy old acquaintance Song and Famine dwell | Q |
| - | |
| Try some plump alderman and suck the blood | C |
| Enriched by generous wine and costly meat | C |
| On well filled skins sleek as thy native mud | C |
| Fix thy light pump and press thy freckled feet | C |
| Go to the men for whom in ocean's hall | R |
| The oyster breeds and the green turtle sprawls | S |
| - | |
| There corks are drawn and the red vintage flows | T |
| To fill the swelling veins for thee and now | E |
| The ruddy cheek and now the ruddier nose | T |
| Shall tempt thee as thou flittest round the brow | E |
| And when the hour of sleep its quiet brings | U |
| No angry hand shall rise to brush thy wings | U |
William Cullen Bryant
(1)
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About To A Musquito
To A Musquito is a poem by William Cullen Bryant. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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