The Philanthropic Society Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BBCCDDEEFFGHIIBJKKLL MMNNMMMMOPMMQQRRSTUU RRVVMMWWXXYYRRZA2B2B 2KKC2C2D2D2C2C2E2E2M MF2F2RRMMJJG2H2RRRRB JRRBBRRMMRRRRE2E2I2I 2RRMMF2F2RRBBMMRRB2B 2RRF2F2RRC2C2RRMMF2F 2MMJ2J2C2C2RRRRK2K2F 2F2RRL2L2M2M2F2F2J2J 2RRN2FF2F2J2J2RRO2O2 P2P2GHRRJ| INSCRIBED TO THE DUKE OF LEEDS | A |
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| When Want with wasted mien and haggard eye | B |
| Retires in silence to her cell to die | B |
| When o'er her child she hangs with speechless dread | C |
| Faint and despairing of to morrow's bread | C |
| Who shall approach to bid the conflict cease | D |
| And to her parting spirit whisper peace | D |
| Who thee poor infant that with aspect bland | E |
| Dost stretch forth innocent thy helpless hand | E |
| Shall pitying then protect when thou art thrown | F |
| On the world's waste unfriended and alone | F |
| O hapless Infancy if aught could move | G |
| The hardest heart to pity and to love | H |
| 'Twere surely found in thee dim passions mark | I |
| Stern manhood's brow where age impresses dark | I |
| The stealing line of sorrow but thine eye | B |
| Wears not distrust or grief or perfidy | J |
| Though fortune's storms with dismal shadow lower | K |
| Thy heart nor fears nor feels the bitter shower | K |
| Thy tear is soon forgotten thou wilt weep | L |
| And then the murmuring winds will hush thy sleep | L |
| As 'twere with some sad music and thy smiles | M |
| Unlike to those that cover cruel wiles | M |
| Plead best thy speechless innocence and lend | N |
| A charm might win the world to be thy friend | N |
| But thou art oft abandoned in thy smiles | M |
| And early vice thy easy heart beguiles | M |
| Oh for some voice that of the secret maze | M |
| Where the grim passions lurk the winding ways | M |
| That lead to sin and ruth and deep lament | O |
| Might haply warn thee whilst yet innocent | P |
| And beauteous as the spring time o'er the hills | M |
| Advancing when each vale glad music fills | M |
| Else lost and wandering the benighted mind | Q |
| No spot of rest again shall ever find | Q |
| Then the sweet smiles that erst enchanting laid | R |
| Their magic beauty on thy look shall fade | R |
| Then the bird's warbled song no more shall cheer | S |
| With morning music thy delighted ear | T |
| Fell thoughts and muttering passions shall awake | U |
| And the fair rose the sullied cheek forsake | U |
| As when still Autumn's gradual gloom is laid | R |
| Far o'er the fading forest's saddened shade | R |
| A mournful gleam illumines the cold hill | V |
| Yet palely wandering o'er the distant rill | V |
| But when the hollow gust slow rising raves | M |
| And high the pine on yon lone summit waves | M |
| Each milder charm like pictures of a dream | W |
| Hath perished mute the birds and dark the stream | W |
| Scuds the dreer sleet upon the whirlwind borne | X |
| And scowls the landscape clouded and forlorn | X |
| So fades so perishes frail Virtue's hue | Y |
| Her last and lingering smile seems but to rue | Y |
| Like autumn every summer beauty reft | R |
| Till all is dark and to the winter left | R |
| Yet spring with living touch shall paint again | Z |
| The green leaved forest and the purple plain | A2 |
| With mingling melody the woods shall ring | B2 |
| The whispering breeze its long lost incense fling | B2 |
| But Innocence when once thy tender flower | K |
| The sickly taint has touched where is the power | K |
| That shall bring back its fragrance or restore | C2 |
| The tints of loveliness that shine no more | C2 |
| How then for thee who pinest in life's gloom | D2 |
| Abandoned child can hope or virtue bloom | D2 |
| For thee exposed amid the desert drear | C2 |
| Which no glad gales or vernal sunbeams cheer | C2 |
| Though some there are who lift their head sublime | E2 |
| Nor heed the transient storms of fate or time | E2 |
| Too oft alas beneath unfriendly skies | M |
| The tender blossom shrinks its leaves and dies | M |
| Go struggle with thy fate pursue thy way | F2 |
| Though thou art poor the world around is gay | F2 |
| Thou hast no bread but on thy aching sight | R |
| Proud luxury's pavilions glitter bright | R |
| In thy cold ear the song of gladness swells | M |
| Whilst vacant folly chimes her tinkling bells | M |
| The careless crowd prolong their hollow glee | J |
| Nor one relenting bosom thinks of thee | J |
| Will not the indignant spirit then rebel | G2 |
| And the dark tide of passions fearful swell | H2 |
| Will not despight perhaps or bitter need | R |
| Urge then thy temper to some direful deed | R |
| Pale Guilt shall call thee to her ghastly band | R |
| Or Murder welcome thee with reeking hand | R |
| O wretched state where our best feelings lie | B |
| Deep sunk in sullen hopeless apathy | J |
| Or wakeful cares or gloomy terrors start | R |
| And night and tempest mingle in the heart | R |
| All mournful to the pensive sage's eye | B |
| The monuments of human glory lie | B |
| Fall'n palaces crushed by the ruthless haste | R |
| Of time and many an empire's silent waste | R |
| Where 'midst the vale of long departed years | M |
| The form of desolation dim appears | M |
| Pointing to the wild plain with ruin spread | R |
| The wrecks of age and records of the dead | R |
| But where a sight shall shuddering sorrow find | R |
| Sad as the ruins of the human mind | R |
| As Man by his GREAT MAKER raised sublime | E2 |
| Amid the universe ordained to climb | E2 |
| The arduous height where Virtue sits serene | I2 |
| As Man the high lord of this nether scene | I2 |
| So fall'n so lost his noblest boast destroyed | R |
| His sweet affections left a piteous void | R |
| But oh sweet Charity what sounds were those | M |
| That met the listening ear soft as the close | M |
| Of distant music when the hum of day | F2 |
| Is hushed and dying gales the airs convey | F2 |
| Come hapless orphans meek Compassion cried | R |
| Where'er unsheltered outcasts ye abide | R |
| The bitter driving wind the freezing sky | B |
| The oppressor's scourge the proud man's contumely | B |
| Come hapless orphans ye who never saw | M |
| A tear of kindness shed on your cold straw | M |
| Who never met with joy the morning light | R |
| Or lisped your little prayer of peace at night | R |
| Come hapless orphans nor when youth should spring | B2 |
| Soaring aloft as on an eagle's wing | B2 |
| Shall ye forsaken on the ground be left | R |
| Of hope of virtue and of peace bereft | R |
| Far from the springtide gale and joyous day | F2 |
| In the deep caverns of Despair ye lay | F2 |
| She iron hearted mother never pressed | R |
| Your wasted forms with transport to her breast | R |
| When none o'er all the world your 'plaint would hear | C2 |
| She never kissed away the falling tear | C2 |
| Or fondly smiled forgetful to behold | R |
| Some infant grace its early charm unfold | R |
| She ne'er with mingling hopes and rising fears | M |
| Sighed for the fortune of your future years | M |
| Or saw you hand in hand rejoicing stray | F2 |
| Beneath the morning sun on youth's delightful way | F2 |
| But happier scenes invite and fairer skies | M |
| From your dark bed children of woe arise | M |
| In caves where peace ne'er smiled where joy ne'er came | J2 |
| Where Friendship's eye ne'er glistened at the name | J2 |
| Of one she loved where famine and despair | C2 |
| Sat silent 'mid the damp and lurid air | C2 |
| The soothing voice is heard a beam of light | R |
| Is cast upon their features sunk and white | R |
| With trembling joy they catch the stealing sound | R |
| Their famished little ones come smiling round | R |
| Sweet Infancy whom all the world forsook | K2 |
| Thou hast put on again thy cherub look | K2 |
| Guilt shrinking at the sight in deep dismay | F2 |
| Flies cowering and resigns his wonted prey | F2 |
| But who is she in garb of misery clad | R |
| Yet of less vulgar mien A look so sad | R |
| The mourning maniac wears so wild yet meek | L2 |
| A beam of joy now wanders o'er her cheek | L2 |
| The pale eye visiting it leaves it soon | M2 |
| As fade the dewy glances of the moon | M2 |
| Upon some wandering cloud while slow the ray | F2 |
| Retires and leaves more dark the heaven's wide way | F2 |
| Lost mother early doomed to guilt and shame | J2 |
| Whose friends of youth now sigh not o'er thy name | J2 |
| Heavy has sorrow fall'n upon thy head | R |
| Yet think one hope remains when thou art dead | R |
| Thy houseless child thy only little one | N2 |
| Shall not look round defenceless and alone | F |
| For one to guide her youth nor with dismay | F2 |
| Each stranger's cold unfeeling look survey | F2 |
| She shall not now be left a prey to shame | J2 |
| Whilst slow disease preys on her faded frame | J2 |
| Nor when the bloom of innocence is fled | R |
| Thus fainting bow her unprotected head | R |
| Oh she shall live and Piety and Truth | O2 |
| The loveliest ornaments shall grace her youth | O2 |
| And should her eye with softest lustre shine | P2 |
| And should she wear such smiles as once were thine | P2 |
| The smiles of peace and virtue they shall prove | G |
| Blessing the calm abode of faithful love | H |
| For ye who thus by pure compassion taught | R |
| Have wept o'er human sorrows who have sought | R |
| Want's dismal c | J |
William Lisle Bowles
(1)
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