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FRANCIS BACON'S CRYPTIC RHYMES 55
No wonder the delight in rhyming was shared by
England's greatest poet, the author of the Shakespeare
Plays. Both his epic poems " Venus and Adonis " and
" Lucrece " abound with rhyme. Both are written in
iambic verses of five feet, one in six-lined, the other in
seven-lined stanzas. The " Sonnets," of course, also
rhyme throughout!
But the desire to write in rhymed
verse did not
exhaust itself in these poems ; it continued to exert its
influence over Britain's greatest genius in his plays
;
and although the rhyme occurs more frequently in the
comedies than in the tragedies,
we all know how often
even a tragic scene concludes with one or several
couplets.
We need only turn up any part in a play to
find an abundance of such rhymed passages. In this
respect Schiller may be said to have followed in the
footsteps of the English poet, for he also is very fond
of rhyming the concluding lines of a scene or act.
The desire to rhyme displays itself most strikingly
and to the best advantage in the comedies, which
afforded the poet every opportunity of utilising popular
wit and rhyme. In evidence of our argument, we
would quote the ludicrous verses uttered by Pyramus,
the hero represented by the Athenian pedant, as he
stabs himself :
Come, tears, confound ;
Out, sword, and wound
The pap of Pyramus,
Ay, that left pap,
Where heart doth hop :
Thus die I,
Now am I dead,
Now am I fled ;
[Stabs himself.']
thus, thus, thus.