Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog

Oliver Goldsmith (c. 1730–1774) · 1764–1774

common measure · ABAB · 32 lines · from Poems

Good people all, of every sort,Give ear unto my song;And if you find it wond’rous short,It cannot hold you long.

In Islington there was a man,Of whom the world might say,That still a godly race he ran,Whene’er he went to pray.

A kind and gentle heart he had,To comfort friends and foes;The naked every day he clad,When he put on his clothes.

And in that town a dog was found,As many dogs there be,Both mongrel, puppy, whelp, and hound,And curs of low degree.

This dog and man at first were friends;But when a pique began,The dog, to gain some private ends,Went mad and bit the man.

Around from all the neighbouring streetsThe wond’ring neighbours ran,And swore the dog had lost his wits,To bite so good a man.

The wound it seem’d both sore and sadTo every Christian eye;And while they swore the dog was mad,They swore the man would die.

But soon a wonder came to light,That show’d the rogues they lied:The man recover’d of the bite,The dog it was that died.

Words in this poem

went n.: Course; way; path; journey; direction.
clad v.: To clothe. Holland.
puppy n.: The young of a canine animal, esp. of the common dog; a whelp. [F. poupée doll, puppet. See Puppet, and cf. Pup, n.]
whelp n.: One of the young of a dog or a beast of prey; a puppy; a cub; as, a lion's whelps. [AS. hwelp; akin to D. welp, G. & OHG. welf, Icel. hvelpr, Dan. hvalp, Sw. valp.]
pique n.: A cotton fabric, figured in the loom, -- used as a dress goods for women and children, and for vestings, etc. [F., p.p. of piquer to prick.]
neighbouring a.: Living or being near; adjacent; as, the neighboring nations or countries.
lied n.: A lay; a German song. It differs from the French chanson, and the Italian canzone, all three being national. [G.]

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poetical Works of Oliver Goldsmith, Project Gutenberg ebook #3545; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.

Cite as: Oliver Goldsmith, Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog, in Poems (1764–1774), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3545, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/goldsmith-poems/elegy-on-the-death-of-a-mad-dog.html, id L00436.

Form and metre

Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog is 32 lines in 8 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 7 of its 8 stanzas. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 95%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 6% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.

See other poems in common measure.

Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.

Rhyme words, stanza by stanza

The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.

1 ABAB sort^A · song^B · short^A · long^B
2 ABAB man^A · say^B · ran^A · pray^B
3 ABAB had^A · foes^B · clad^A · clothes^B
4 ABAB found^A · be^B · hound^A · degree^B
5 ABAB friends^A · began^B · ends^A · man^B
6 -A-A streets · ran^A · wits · man^A
7 ABAB sad^A · eye^B · mad^A · die^B
8 ABAB light^A · lied^B · bite^A · died^B

Scansion, line by line

Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against common measure. How this is done.

Line	Syl.	Stress
Good people all, of every sort,	9	·/˘··/˘˘·
Give ear unto my song;	6	······
And if you find it wond’rous short,	8	·····/˘·
It cannot hold you long.	6	·/˘···
In Islington there was a man,	8	········
Of whom the world might say,	6	······
That still a godly race he ran,	8	···/˘···
Whene’er he went to pray.	7	·······
A kind and gentle heart he had,	8	···/˘···
To comfort friends and foes;	6	·/˘···
The naked every day he clad,	10	·/˘˘/˘˘···
When he put on his clothes.	6	······
And in that town a dog was found,	8	········
As many dogs there be,	6	·/˘···
Both mongrel, puppy, whelp, and hound,	8	·/˘/˘···
And curs of low degree.	6	····˘/
This dog and man at first were friends;	8	········
But when a pique began,	6	····˘/
The dog, to gain some private ends,	8	·····/˘·
Went mad and bit the man.	6	······
Around from all the neighbouring streets	9	·····/˘˘·
The wond’ring neighbours ran,	6	···/˘·
And swore the dog had lost his wits,	8	········
To bite so good a man.	6	······
The wound it seem’d both sore and sad	8	········
To every Christian eye;	7	·/˘˘/˘·
And while they swore the dog was mad,	8	········
They swore the man would die.	6	······
But soon a wonder came to light,	8	···/˘···
That show’d the rogues they lied:	6	······
The man recover’d of the bite,	8	··˘/˘···
The dog it was that died.	6	······

The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.

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