On Pedigree. From Epicharmus
William Cowper 1731 (Berkhamsted) – 1800 (Dereham)
My mother! if thou love me, name no more
My noble birth! Sounding at every breath
My noble birth, thou kill'st me. Thither fly,
As to their only refuge, all from whom
Nature withholds all good besides; they boast
Their noble birth, conduct us to the tombs
Of their forefathers, and, from age to age
Ascending, trumpet their illustrious race:
But whom hast thou beheld, or canst thou name,
Derived from no forefathers? Such a man
Lives not; for how could such be born at all?
And, if it chance that, native of a land
Far distant, or in infancy deprived
Of all his kindred, one, who cannot trace
His origin, exist, why deem him sprung
From baser ancestry than theirs who can?
My mother! he whom nature at his birth
Endow'd with virtuous qualities, although
An Æthiop and a slave, is nobly born.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 44 sec read
- 101 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABCDEFGHIJKLMHNJOPQ |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 784 |
Words | 146 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 19 |
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"On Pedigree. From Epicharmus" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 12 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/40040/on-pedigree.-from-epicharmus>.
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