An Unfortunate Likeness Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABAB BBCB DEDF GHGH IJIJ BBBB BKLK MNMO BBBB PQPQ BRBS LBLB TUTB VBVB WNWN XBXB YBZB BA2BA2 N NZ KB2KB2 C2D2C2D2 E2F2E2F2 G2WH2 I2H2I2 BBBB

I'VE painted SHAKESPEARE all my lifeA
quot An infant quot even then at quot play quotB
quot A boy quot with stage ambition rifeA
Then quot Married to ANN HATHAWAY quotB
-
quot The bard's first ticket night quot or quot ben quotB
His quot First appearance on the stage quotB
His quot Call before the curtain quot thenC
quot Rejoicings when he came of age quotB
-
The bard play writing in his roomD
The bard a humble lawyer's clerkE
The bard a lawyer parson groomD
The bard deer stealing after darkF
-
The bard a tradesman and a JewG
The bard a botanist a beakH
The bard a skilled musician tooG
A sheriff and a surgeon ekeH
-
Yet critics say a friendly stockI
That though it's evident I tryJ
Yet even I can barely mockI
The glimmer of his wondrous eyeJ
-
One morning as a work I framedB
There passed a person walking hardB
quot My gracious goodness quot I exclaimedB
quot How very like my dear old bardB
-
quot Oh what a model he would make quotB
I rushed outside impulsive meK
quot Forgive the liberty I takeL
But you're so very quot quot Stop quot said heK
-
quot You needn't waste your breath or timeM
I know what you are going to sayN
That you're an artist and that I'mM
Remarkably like SHAKESPEARE EhO
-
quot You wish that I would sit to you quotB
I clasped him madly round the waistB
And breathlessly replied quot I do quotB
quot All right quot said he quot but please make haste quotB
-
I led him by his hallowed sleeveP
And worked away at him apaceQ
I painted him till dewy eveP
There never was a nobler faceQ
-
quot Oh sir quot I said quot a fortune grandB
Is yours by dint of merest chanceR
To sport HIS brow at second handB
To wear HIS cast off countenanceS
-
quot To rub HIS eyes whene'er they acheL
To wear HIS baldness ere you're oldB
To clean HIS teeth when you awakeL
To blow HIS nose when you've a cold quotB
-
His eyeballs glistened in his eyesT
I sat and watched and smoked my pipeU
quot Bravo quot I said quot I recognizeT
The phrensy of your prototype quotB
-
His scanty hair he wildly toreV
quot That's right quot said I quot it shows your breed quotB
He danced he stamped he wildly sworeV
quot Bless me that's very fine indeed quotB
-
quot Sir quot said the grand Shakesperian boyW
Continuing to blaze awayN
quot You think my face a source of joyW
That shows you know not what you sayN
-
quot Forgive these yells and cellar flapsX
I'm always thrown in some such stateB
When on his face well meaning chapsX
This wretched man congratulateB
-
quot For oh this face this pointed chinY
This nose this brow these eyeballs tooB
Have always been the originZ
Of all the woes I ever knewB
-
quot If to the play my way I findB
To see a grand Shakesperian pieceA2
I have no rest no ease of mindB
Until the author's puppets ceaseA2
-
quot Men nudge each other thus and sayN
'This certainly is SHAKESPEARE'S son '-
And merry wags of course in playN
Cry 'Author ' when the piece is doneZ
-
quot In church the people stare at meK
Their soul the sermon never bindsB2
I catch them looking round to seeK
And thoughts of SHAKESPEARE fill their mindsB2
-
quot And sculptors fraught with cunning wileC2
Who find it difficult to crownD2
A bust with BROWN'S insipid smileC2
Or TOMKINS'S unmannered frownD2
-
quot Yet boldly make my face their ownE2
When oh presumption they requireF2
To animate a paving stoneE2
With SHAKESPEARE'S intellectual fireF2
-
quot At parties where young ladies gazeG2
And I attempt to speak my joyW
'Hush pray ' some lovely creature saysH2
'The fond illusion don't destroy '-
-
quot Whene'er I speak my soul is wrungI2
With these or some such whisperingsH2
''Tis pity that a SHAKESPEARE'S tongueI2
Should say such un Shakesperian things '-
-
quot I should not thus be criticisedB
Had I a face of common wontB
Don't envy me now be advised quotB
And now I think of it I don'tB

William Schwenck Gilbert



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