Elegy Xix. - Written In Spring, 1743 Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABAB CDED FGFG HIHI JKJK LMNO PQ Q RJSJ TUTU VQVQ KFKF RGRW XYXY ZDA2D B2VB2V C2BC2B RQR D2FE2F| Again the labouring hind inverts the soil | A |
| Again the merchant ploughs the tumid wave | B |
| Another spring renews the soldier's toil | A |
| And finds me vacant in the rural cave | B |
| - | |
| As the soft lyre display'd my wonted loves | C |
| The pensive pleasure and the tender pain | D |
| The sordid Alpheus hurried through my groves | E |
| Yet stopp'd to vent the dictates of disdain | D |
| - | |
| He glanced contemptuous o'er my ruin'd fold | F |
| He blamed the graces of my favourite bower | G |
| My breast unsullied by the lust of gold | F |
| My time unlavish'd in pursuit of power | G |
| - | |
| Yes Alpheus fly the purer paths of Fate | H |
| Abjure these scenes from venal passions free | I |
| Know in this grove I vow'd perpetual hate | H |
| War endless war with lucre and with thee | I |
| - | |
| Here nobly zealous in my youthful hours | J |
| I dress'd an altar to Thalia's name | K |
| Here as I crown'd the verdant shrine with flowers | J |
| Soft on my labours stole the smiling dame | K |
| - | |
| 'Damon ' she cried 'if pleased with honest praise | L |
| Thou court success by virtue or by song | M |
| Fly the false dictates of the venal race | N |
| Fly the gross accents of the venal tongue | O |
| - | |
| 'Swear that no lucre shall thy zeal betray | P |
| Swerve not thy foot with fortune's votaries more | Q |
| Brand thou their lives and brand their lifeless day ' | - |
| The winning phantom urged me and I swore | Q |
| - | |
| Forth from the rustic altar swift I stray'd | R |
| 'Aid my firm purpose ye celestial Powers | J |
| Aid me to quell the sordid breast ' I said | S |
| And threw my javelin towards their hostile towers | J |
| - | |
| Think not regretful I survey the deed | T |
| Or added years no more the zeal allow | U |
| Still still observant to the grove I speed | T |
| The shrine embellish and repeat the vow | U |
| - | |
| Sworn from his cradle Rome's relentless foe | V |
| Such generous hate the Punic champion bore | Q |
| Thy lake O Thrasimene beheld it glow | V |
| And Cannae's walls and Trebia's crimson shore | Q |
| - | |
| But let grave annals paint the warrior's fame | K |
| Fair shine his arms in history enroll'd | F |
| Whilst humbler lyres his civil worth proclaim | K |
| His nobler hate of avarice and gold | F |
| - | |
| Now Punic pride its final eve survey'd | R |
| Its hosts exhausted and its fleets on fire | G |
| Patient the victor's lucid frown obey'd | R |
| And saw th' unwilling elephants retire | W |
| - | |
| But when their gold depress'd the yielding scale | X |
| Their gold in pyramidic plenty piled | Y |
| He saw the unutterable grief prevail | X |
| He saw their tears and in his fury smiled | Y |
| - | |
| 'Think not ' he cried 'ye view the smiles of ease | Z |
| Or this firm breast disclaims a patriot's pain | D |
| I smile but from a soul estranged to peace | A2 |
| Frantic with grief delirious with disdain | D |
| - | |
| 'But were it cordial this detested smile | B2 |
| Seems it less timely than the grief ye show | V |
| O Sons of Carthage grant me to revile | B2 |
| The sordid source of your indecent woe | V |
| - | |
| 'Why weep ye now ye saw with tearless eye | C2 |
| When your fleet perish'd on the Punic wave | B |
| Where lurk'd the coward tear the lazy sigh | C2 |
| When Tyre's imperial state commenced a slave | B |
| - | |
| ''Tis past O Carthage vanquish'd honour'd shade | R |
| Go the mean sorrows of thy sons deplore | Q |
| Had freedom shared the vow to Fortune paid | R |
| She ne'er like Fortune had forsook thy shore ' | - |
| - | |
| He ceased abash'd the conscious audience hear | D2 |
| Their pallid cheeks a crimson blush unfold | F |
| Yet o'er that virtuous blush distreams a tear | E2 |
| And falling moistens their abandon'd gold | F |
William Shenstone
(1)
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