Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE MADMAN AND THE LETHARGIST, AN EXAMPLE, by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE


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THE MADMAN AND THE LETHARGIST, AN EXAMPLE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Quoth dick to me, as once at college
Last Line: But as for th'example, 'tis a lie!'


Quoth Dick to me, as once at College
We argued on the use of Knowledge,
'In old king Olim's reign, I've read,
There lay two Patients in one bed.
The one in fat lethargic trance
Lay wan and motionless as lead:
The other, like the Folks in France,
Possess'd a different disposition --
In short, the plain truth to confess,
The man was madder than mad Bess.
But both diseases, none disputed,
Were unmedicinably rooted.
Yet so it chanc'd, by Heaven's Permission,
Each prov'd the other's true Physician.'

'Fighting with a ghastly stare
Troops of Despots in the air,
Obstreporously Jacobinical
The Madman froth'd & foam'd & roar'd:
The other, snoring octaves cynical,
Like good John Bull, in posture clinical
Seem'd living only when he snor'd.
The Citizen, enrag'd to see
This fat Insensibility,
Or tir'd with solitary Labour,
Determin'd to convert his Neighbour.
So up he sprung, & to 't he fell
Like Devil piping hot from hell;
With indefatigable Fist
Belab'ring the poor Lethargist,
Till his own Limbs were stiff & sore,
And Sweatdrops roll'd from every pore.
Yet still, with "flying fingers" fleet --
Duly accompanied by feet,
With some short Interludes of Biting
He executes the self-same Strain,
Till the Slumb'rer woke for pain
And half prepar'd himself for Fighting,
That moment, that his mad Colleague
Sunk down & slept thro' pure fatigue.
So both were cur'd: & this example,
Gives demonstration full & ample,
That Chance may bring a thing to bear
When Art sits down in flat Despair.'
'That's true enough, Dick!' -- answer'd I --
'But as for th'example, 'tis a Lie!'






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