Retaliation
HERE Whitefoord reclines, and deny it who can,Though he merrily liv’d, he is now a ‘grave’ man;Rare compound of oddity, frolic, and fun!Who relish’d a joke, and rejoic’d in a pun;Whose temper was generous, open, sincere;A stranger to flatt’ry, a stranger to fear;Who scatter’d around wit and humour at will;Whose daily bons mots half a column might fill;A Scotchman, from pride and from prejudice free;A scholar, yet surely no pedant was he.
What pity, alas! that so lib’ral a mindShould so long be to news-paper essays confin’d;Who perhaps to the summit of science could soar,Yet content ‘if the table he set on a roar’;Whose talents to fill any station were fit,Yet happy if Woodfall confess’d him a wit.
Ye news-paper witlings! ye pert scribbling folksWho copied his squibs, and re-echoed his jokes;Ye tame imitators, ye servile herd, come,Still follow your master, and visit his tomb:To deck it, bring with you festoons of the vine,And copious libations bestow on his shrine:Then strew all around it (you can do no less)Cross-readings, Ship-news, and Mistakes of the Press.
Merry Whitefoord, farewell! for thy sake I admitThat a Scot may have humour, I had almost said wit:This debt to thy mem’ry I cannot refuse,‘Thou best humour’d man with the worst humour’d muse.’
AH me! when shall I marry me?Lovers are plenty; but fail to relieve me:He, fond youth, that could carry me,Offers to love, but means to deceive me.
But I will rally, and combat the ruiner:Not a look, not a smile shall my passion discover:She that gives all to the false one pursuing her,Makes but a penitent, loses a lover.
Words in this poem
- oddity n.
- The quality or state of being odd; singularity; queerness; peculiarity; as, oddity of dress, manners, and the like.
- generous a.
- Of honorable birth or origin; highborn. [F. généreux, fr. L. generous of noble birth, noble, excellent, magnanimous, fr. genus birth, race: cf. It. generoso. See 2d Gender.]
- humour n.
- Moisture, especially, the moisture or fluid of animal bodies, as the chyle, lymph, etc.; as, the humors of the eye, etc. [OE. humour, OF. humor, umor, F. humeur, L. humor, umor, moisture, fluid, fr. humere, umere, to be moist. See Humid.]
- scotchman n.
- A native or inhabitant of Scotland; a Scot; a Scotsman.
- pedant n.
- A schoolmaster; a pedagogue. [F. pédant, It. pedante, fr. Gr. pai^s boy. See Pedagogue.]
- scribbling n.
- The act or process of carding coarsely. Scribbing machine, the machine used for the first carding of wool or other fiber; -- called also scribbler. [See 1st Scribble.]
- folks n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- relieve v. t.
- To lift up; to raise again, as one who has fallen; to cause to rise. Piers Plowman. [OE. releven, F. relever to raise again, discharge, relieve, fr. L. relevare to lift up, raise, make light, relieve; pref. re- re- + levare to raise, fr. levis l]
- rally v. t.
- To collect, and reduce to order, as troops dispersed or thrown into confusion; to gather again; to reunite. [OF. ralier, F. rallier, fr. L. pref. re- + ad + ligare to bind. See Ra-, and 1st Ally.]
- ruiner n.
- One who, or that which, ruins.
- discover v. i.
- To discover or show one's self.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Retaliation 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, Retaliation, in Poems (1764–1774), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3545, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/goldsmith-poems/retaliation-2.html, id L26164.
Form and metre
Retaliation is 36 lines in 6 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 83% of the lines. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in anapaestic tetrameter.
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 AABBCCDDEE canA · manA · funB · punB · sincereC · fearC · willD · fillD · freeE · heE
- 2 AABBCC mindA · confin'dA · soarB · roarB · fitC · witC
- 3 AA--BBCC folksA · jokesA · come · tomb · vineB · shrineB · lessC · pressC
- 4 AABB admitA · witA · refuseB · museB
- 5 AAAA meA · meA · meA · meA
- 6 -A-A ruiner · discoverA · her · loverA
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 anapaestic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| HERE Whitefoord reclines, and deny it who can, | 12 | ····˘/·˘/··· |
| Though he merrily liv’d, he is now a ‘grave’ man; | 11 | ··/˘······· |
| Rare compound of oddity, frolic, and fun! | 10 | ·˘/·/˘/˘·· |
| Who relish’d a joke, and rejoic’d in a pun; | 11 | ·/˘···˘/··· |
| Whose temper was generous, open, sincere; | 10 | ·/˘·/˘/˘˘/ |
| A stranger to flatt’ry, a stranger to fear; | 11 | ·/˘····/˘·· |
| Who scatter’d around wit and humour at will; | 11 | ·/˘····/˘·· |
| Whose daily bons mots half a column might fill; | 11 | ·/˘····/˘·· |
| A Scotchman, from pride and from prejudice free; | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| A scholar, yet surely no pedant was he. | 11 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| What pity, alas! that so lib’ral a mind | 11 | ·/˘˘/··/˘·· |
| Should so long be to news-paper essays confin’d; | 12 | ······/˘˘/˘/ |
| Who perhaps to the summit of science could soar, | 12 | ·˘/··/˘·/˘·· |
| Yet content ‘if the table he set on a roar’; | 12 | ·/˘··/˘····· |
| Whose talents to fill any station were fit, | 11 | ·/˘··/˘/˘·· |
| Yet happy if Woodfall confess’d him a wit. | 11 | ·/˘···˘/··· |
| Ye news-paper witlings! ye pert scribbling folks | 11 | ··/˘····/˘· |
| Who copied his squibs, and re-echoed his jokes; | 11 | ·/˘····/˘·· |
| Ye tame imitators, ye servile herd, come, | 11 | ··/˘·˘·/˘·· |
| Still follow your master, and visit his tomb: | 11 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| To deck it, bring with you festoons of the vine, | 11 | ·······/··· |
| And copious libations bestow on his shrine: | 11 | ·/˘···˘/··· |
| Then strew all around it (you can do no less) | 11 | ··········· |
| Cross-readings, Ship-news, and Mistakes of the Press. | 11 | ·/˘···˘/··· |
| Merry Whitefoord, farewell! for thy sake I admit | 13 | /˘····/····˘/ |
| That a Scot may have humour, I had almost said wit: | 13 | ·····/˘··/··· |
| This debt to thy mem’ry I cannot refuse, | 11 | ·······˘/˘/ |
| ‘Thou best humour’d man with the worst humour’d muse.’ | 11 | ··········· |
| AH me! when shall I marry me? | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Lovers are plenty; but fail to relieve me: | 11 | /˘·/˘···˘/· |
| He, fond youth, that could carry me, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Offers to love, but means to deceive me. | 10 | /˘·····˘/· |
| But I will rally, and combat the ruiner: | 12 | ···/˘·˘/·/˘˘ |
| Not a look, not a smile shall my passion discover: | 13 | ········/˘˘/˘ |
| She that gives all to the false one pursuing her, | 12 | ········˘/˘· |
| Makes but a penitent, loses a lover. | 11 | ···/˘˘/˘·/˘ |
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.