Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, DARWIN ON SPECIES, by ANONYMOUS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

DARWIN ON SPECIES, by                    
First Line: Hear how selection was the efficient cause
Last Line: "lapsed into whales, and grandly swam away"
Subject(s): "darwin, Charles (1809-1882);mnemonics;


Hear how selection was the efficient cause
(To form and species of transmuting laws):
There was a time when short-legged, lumbering dogs,
Could only catch the rabbits and the hogs;
The lighter creatures, and the fleeter prey,
Mocked their pursuers as they ran away.
At length the rabbits and the pigs declined,
Till scarce one specimen was left behind;
Then was the breed canine in doleful dumps,
Mourning short commons, and their shorter stumps,
Whilst bounding hares, at which they barked in vain,
Swarmed in the woods, and frolicked on the plain.
At last some turnspits of superior mind
Tried hard the chase, some sustenance to find;
Short-legged, short-winded, much they puffed and blew,
Whilst the fleet game escaped their eager view;
But they, with "plastic' limbs and watchful care,
In fifty thousand ages caught a hare!
The others died that did not like to run,
Nor was man there to help them with his gun.
Those that remained in time's long cycles found
The way to change a turnspit to a hound;
The sturdy hound, improving on the plan,
Lengthened his legs, and as a greyhound ran:
Thus does selection's powers elaborate
Great things from little, little things from great,
To reach the wants of each peculiar state.
In million ages lions grew from cats,
In million ages seals fined down to sprats;
And black bears dabbling in the sea for play,
Lapsed into whales, and grandly swam away.






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