What village but has sometimes seen <br />The clumsy shape, the frightful mien, <br />Tremendous claws, and shagged hair <br />Of that grim brute yclept a bear? <br />He from his dam the learn'd agree, <br />Received the curious form you see; <br />Who with her plastic tongue alone, <br />Produced a visage-like her own- <br />And thus they hint, in mystic fashion, <br />The powerful force of education. <br />Perhaps yon crowd of swains is viewing, <br />Even now, the strange exploits of Bruin, <br />Who plays his antics, roars aloud, <br />The wonder of a gaping crowd! <br />So have I known an awkward lad, <br />Whose birth has made a parish glad, <br />Forbid, for fear of sense, to roam, <br />And taught by kind mamma at home, <br />Who gives him many a well-tried rule, <br />With ways and means-to play the fool. <br />In sense the same, in stature higher, <br />He shines, ere long, a rural squire, <br />Pours forth unwitty jokes, and swears, <br />And bawls, and drinks, but chiefly stares: <br />His tenants of superior sense <br />Carouse, and laugh, at his expense, <br />And deem the pastime I'm relating <br />To be as pleasant as bear-baiting.<br /><br />William Shenstone<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-simile-3/
