Oedipus Tyrannus; or, Swellfoot the Tyrant
'Choose Reform or Civil War,When through thy streets, instead of hare with dogs,A CONSORT-QUEEN shall hunt a king with hogs,Riding on the IONIAN MINOTAUR.'
SWELLFOOT:Thou supreme Goddess! by whose power divineThese graceful limbs are clothed in proud arrayOf gold and purple, and this kingly paunchSwells like a sail before a favouring breeze,And these most sacred nether promontoriesLie satisfied with layers of fat; and theseBoeotian cheeks, like Egypt's pyramid,(Nor with less toil were their foundations laid),Sustain the cone of my untroubled brain,That point, the emblem of a pointless nothing!Thou to whom Kings and laurelled Emperors,Radical-butchers, Paper-money-millers,Bishops and Deacons, and the entire armyOf those fat martyrs to the persecutionOf stifling turtle-soup, and brandy-devils,Offer their secret vows! Thou plenteous CeresOf their Eleusis, hail!
NOTE:(8 See Universal History for an account of the number of people whodied, and the immense consumption of garlic by the wretched Egyptians,who made a sepulchre for the name as well as the bodies of theirtyrants.--[SHELLEY'S NOTE.])
SWINE:Eigh! eigh! eigh! eigh!
SWELLFOOT:Ha! what are ye,Who, crowned with leaves devoted to the Furies,Cling round this sacred shrine?
SWINE:Aigh! aigh! aigh!
SWELLFOOT:What! ye that areThe very beasts that, offered at her altarWith blood and groans, salt-cake, and fat, and inwards,Ever propitiate her reluctant willWhen taxes are withheld?
SWINE:Ugh! ugh! ugh!
SWELLFOOT:What! ye who grubWith filthy snouts my red potatoes upIn Allan's rushy bog? Who eat the oatsUp, from my cavalry in the Hebrides?Who swill the hog-wash soup my cooks digestFrom bones, and rags, and scraps of shoe-leather,Which should be given to cleaner Pigs than you?
The same, alas! the same;Though only now the nameOf Pig remains to me.
If 'twere your kingly willUs wretched Swine to kill,What should we yield to thee?
SWELLFOOT:Why, skin and bones, and some few hairs for mortar.
I have heard your Laureate sing,That pity was a royal thing;Under your mighty ancestors, we PigsWere bless'd as nightingales on myrtle sprigs,Or grasshoppers that live on noonday dew,And sung, old annals tell, as sweetly too;But now our sties are fallen in, we catchThe murrain and the mange, the scab and itch;Sometimes your royal dogs tear down our thatch,And then we seek the shelter of a ditch;Hog-wash or grains, or ruta-baga, noneHas yet been ours since your reign begun.
FIRST SOW:My Pigs, 'tis in vain to tug.
SECOND SOW:I could almost eat my litter.
FIRST PIG:I suck, but no milk will come from the dug.
SECOND PIG:Our skin and our bones would be bitter.
THE BOARS:We fight for this rag of greasy rug,Though a trough of wash would be fitter.
SEMICHORUS:Happier Swine were they than we,Drowned in the Gadarean sea--I wish that pity would drive out the devils,Which in your royal bosom hold their revels,And sink us in the waves of thy compassion!Alas! the Pigs are an unhappy nation!Now if your Majesty would have our bristlesTo bind your mortar with, or fill our colonsWith rich blood, or make brawn out of our gristles,In policy--ask else your royal Solons--You ought to give us hog-wash and clean straw,And sties well thatched; besides it is the law!
SWELLFOOT:This is sedition, and rank blasphemy!Ho! there, my guards!
GUARD:Your sacred Majesty.
SWELLFOOT:Call in the Jews, Solomon the court porkman,Moses the sow-gelder, and ZephaniahThe hog-butcher.
GUARD:They are in waiting, Sire.
SWELLFOOT:Out with your knife, old Moses, and spay those SowsThat load the earth with Pigs; cut close and deep.Moral restraint I see has no effect,Nor prostitution, nor our own example,Starvation, typhus-fever, war, nor prison--This was the art which the arch-priest of FamineHinted at in his charge to the Theban clergy--Cut close and deep, good Moses.
MOSES:Let your MajestyKeep the Boars quiet, else--
SWELLFOOT:Zephaniah, cutThat fat Hog's throat, the brute seems overfed;Seditious hunks! to whine for want of grains.
ZEPHANIAH:Your sacred Majesty, he has the dropsy;--We shall find pints of hydatids in 's liver,He has not half an inch of wholesome fatUpon his carious ribs--
SWELLFOOT:'Tis all the same,He'll serve instead of riot money, whenOur murmuring troops bivouac in Thebes' streetsAnd January winds, after a dayOf butchering, will make them relish carrion.Now, Solomon, I'll sell you in a lumpThe whole kit of them.
SOLOMON:Why, your Majesty,I could not give--
SWELLFOOT:Kill them out of the way,That shall be price enough, and let me hearTheir everlasting grunts and whines no more!
PURGANAX:The future looks as black as death, a cloud,Dark as the frown of Hell, hangs over it--The troops grow mutinous--the revenue fails--There's something rotten in us--for the levelOf the State slopes, its very bases topple,The boldest turn their backs upon themselves!
MAMMON:Why what's the matter, my dear fellow, now?Do the troops mutiny?--decimate some regiments;Does money fail?--come to my mint--coin paper,Till gold be at a discount, and ashamedTo show his bilious face, go purge himself,In emulation of her vestal whiteness.
PURGANAX:Oh, would that this were all! The oracle!!
MAMMON:Why it was I who spoke that oracle,And whether I was dead drunk or inspired,I cannot well remember; nor, in truth,The oracle itself!
PURGANAX:The words went thus:--'Boeotia, choose reform or civil war!When through the streets, instead of hare with dogs,A Consort Queen shall hunt a King with Hogs,Riding on the Ionian Minotaur.'
MAMMON:Now if the oracle had ne'er foretoldThis sad alternative, it must arrive,Or not, and so it must now that it has;And whether I was urged by grace divineOr Lesbian liquor to declare these words,Which must, as all words must, he false or true,It matters not: for the same Power made all,Oracle, wine, and me and you--or none--'Tis the same thing. If you knew as muchOf oracles as I do--
PURGANAX:You arch-priestsBelieve in nothing; if you were to dreamOf a particular number in the Lottery,You would not buy the ticket?
MAMMON:Yet our ticketsAre seldom blanks. But what steps have you taken?For prophecies, when once they get abroad,Like liars who tell the truth to serve their ends,Or hypocrites who, from assuming virtue,Do the same actions that the virtuous do,Contrive their own fulfilment. This Iona--Well--you know what the chaste Pasiphae did,Wife to that most religious King of Crete,And still how popular the tale is here;And these dull Swine of Thebes boast their descentFrom the free Minotaur. You know they stillCall themselves Bulls, though thus degenerate,And everything relating to a BullIs popular and respectable in Thebes.Their arms are seven Bulls in a field gules;They think their strength consists in eating beef,--Now there were danger in the precedentIf Queen Iona--
PURGANAX:I have taken good careThat shall not be. I struck the crust o' the earthWith this enchanted rod, and Hell lay bare!And from a cavern full of ugly shapesI chose a LEECH, a GADFLY, and a RAT.The Gadfly was the same which Juno sentTo agitate Io, and which Ezekiel mentionsThat the Lord whistled for out of the mountainsOf utmost Aethiopia, to tormentMesopotamian Babylon. The beastHas a loud trumpet like the scarabee,His crooked tail is barbed with many stings,Each able to make a thousand wounds, and eachImmedicable; from his convex eyesHe sees fair things in many hideous shapes,And trumpets all his falsehood to the world.Like other beetles he is fed on dung--He has eleven feet with which he crawls,Trailing a blistering slime, and this foul beastHas tracked Iona from the Theban limits,From isle to isle, from city unto city,Urging her flight from the far ChersoneseTo fabulous Solyma, and the Aetnean Isle,Ortygia, Melite, and Calypso's Rock,And the swart tribes of Garamant and Fez,Aeolia and Elysium, and thy shores,Parthenope, which now, alas! are free!And through the fortunate Saturnian land,Into the darkness of the West.
NOTES:(153 (Io) The Promethetes Bound of Aeschylus.--[SHELLEY'S NOTE.])(153 (Ezekiel) And the Lord whistled for the gadfly out of Aethiopia,and for the bee of Egypt, etc.--EZEKIEL.--[SHELLEY'S NOTE.])
MAMMON:But ifThis Gadfly should drive Iona hither?
PURGANAX:Gods! what an IF! but there is my gray RAT:So thin with want, he can crawl in and outOf any narrow chink and filthy hole,And he shall creep into her dressing-room,And--
MAMMON:My dear friend, where are your wits? as ifShe does not always toast a piece of cheeseAnd bait the trap? and rats, when lean enoughTo crawl through SUCH chinks--
PURGANAX:But my LEECH--a leechFit to suck blood, with lubricous round rings,Capaciously expatiative, which makeHis little body like a red balloon,As full of blood as that of hydrogen,Sucked from men's hearts; insatiably he sucksAnd clings and pulls--a horse-leech, whose deep mawThe plethoric King Swellfoot could not fill,And who, till full, will cling for ever.
MAMMON:ThisFor Queen Jona would suffice, and less;But 'tis the Swinish multitude I fear,And in that fear I have--
PURGANAX:Done what?
MAMMON:DisinheritedMy eldest son Chrysaor, because heAttended public meetings, and would alwaysStand prating there of commerce, public faith,Economy, and unadulterate coin,And other topics, ultra-radical;And have entailed my estate, called the Fool's Paradise,And funds in fairy-money, bonds, and bills,Upon my accomplished daughter Banknotina,And married her to the gallows.
NOTE:(204 'If one should marry a gallows, and beget young gibbets, I neversaw one so prone.--CYMBELINE.--
PURGANAX:A good match!
MAMMON:A high connexion, Purganax. The bridegroomIs of a very ancient family,Of Hounslow Heath, Tyburn, and the New Drop,And has great influence in both Houses;--oh!He makes the fondest husband; nay, TOO fond,--New-married people should not kiss in public;But the poor souls love one another so!And then my little grandchildren, the gibbets,Promising children as you ever saw,--The young playing at hanging, the elder learningHow to hold radicals. They are well taught too,For every gibbet says its catechismAnd reads a select chapter in the BibleBefore it goes to play.
PURGANAX:Ha! what do I hear?
MAMMON:Your Gadfly, as it seems, is tired of gadding.
GADFLY:Hum! hum! hum!From the lakes of the Alps, and the cold gray scalpsOf the mountains, I come!Hum! hum! hum!From Morocco and Fez, and the high palacesOf golden Byzantium;From the temples divine of old Palestine,From Athens and Rome,With a ha! and a hum!I come! I come!
All inn-doors and windowsWere open to me:I saw all that sin does,Which lamps hardly seeThat burn in the night by the curtained bed,--The impudent lamps! for they blushed not red,Dinging and singing,From slumber I rung her,Loud as the clank of an ironmonger;Hum! hum! hum!
Far, far, far!With the trump of my lips, and the sting at my hips,I drove her--afar!Far, far, far!From city to city, abandoned of pity,A ship without needle or star;--Homeless she passed, like a cloud on the blast,Seeking peace, finding war;--She is here in her car,From afar, and afar;--Hum! hum!
I have stung her and wrung her,The venom is working;--And if you had hung herWith canting and quirking,She could not be deader than she will be soon;--I have driven her close to you, under the moon,Night and day, hum! hum! ha!I have hummed her and drummed herFrom place to place, till at last I have dumbed her,Hum! hum! hum!
LEECH:I will suckBlood or muck!The disease of the state is a plethory,Who so fit to reduce it as I?
RAT:I'll slily seize andLet blood from her weasand,--Creeping through crevice, and chink, and cranny,With my snaky tail, and my sides so scranny.
PURGANAX:Aroint ye! thou unprofitable worm!And thou, dull beetle, get thee back to hell!To sting the ghosts of Babylonian kings,And the ox-headed Io--
Ugh, ugh, ugh!Hail! Iona the divine,We will be no longer Swine,But Bulls with horns and dewlaps.
RAT:For,You know, my lord, the Minotaur--
Be silent! get to hell! or I will callThe cat out of the kitchen. Well, Lord Mammon,This is a pretty business.
MAMMON:I will goAnd spell some scheme to make it ugly then.--
SWELLFOOT:She is returned! Taurina is in Thebes,When Swellfoot wishes that she were in hell!Oh, Hymen, clothed in yellow jealousy,And waving o'er the couch of wedded kingsThe torch of Discord with its fiery hair;This is thy work, thou patron saint of queens!Swellfoot is wived! though parted by the sea,The very name of wife had conjugal rights;Her cursed image ate, drank, slept with me,And in the arms of Adiposa oft 290Her memory has received a husband's--Hark!How the Swine cry Iona Taurina;I suffer the real presence; Purganax,Off with her head!
PURGANAX:But I must first impanelA jury of the Pigs.
SWELLFOOT:Pack them then.
PURGANAX:Or fattening some few in two separate sties.And giving them clean straw, tying some bitsOf ribbon round their legs--giving their SowsSome tawdry lace, and bits of lustre glass,And their young Boars white and red rags, and tailsOf cows, and jay feathers, and sticking cauliflowersBetween the ears of the old ones; and whenThey are persuaded, that by the inherent virtueOf these things, they are all imperial Pigs,Good Lord! they'd rip each other's bellies up,Not to say, help us in destroying her.
SWELLFOOT:This plan might be tried too;--where's General Laoctonos?It is my royal pleasureThat you, Lord General, bring the head and body,If separate it would please me better, hitherOf Queen Iona.
LAOCTONOS:That pleasure I well knew,And made a charge with those battalions bold,Called, from their dress and grin, the royal apes,Upon the Swine, who in a hollow squareEnclosed her, and received the first attackLike so many rhinoceroses, and thenRetreating in good order, with bare tusksAnd wrinkled snouts presented to the foe,Bore her in triumph to the public sty.What is still worse, some Sows upon the groundHave given the ape-guards apples, nuts, and gin,And they all whisk their tails aloft, and cry,'Long live Iona! down with Swellfoot!'
Words in this poem 89
- 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,]
- ionian a.
- Of or pertaining to Ionia or the Ionians; Ionic. [L. Ionius. See Ionic.]
- minotaur n.
- A fabled monster, half man and half bull, confined in the labyrinth constructed by Dædalus in Crete. [L. Minotaurus, Gr. Mi`nos, the husband of Pasiphaë + tay^ros a bull, the Minotaur being the offspring of Pasiphaë and a bull: cf. F. minotaure.]
- paunch n.
- The belly and its contents; the abdomen; also, the first stomach, or rumen, of ruminants. See Rumen. [OF. panch, pance, F. panse, L. pantex, panticis.]
- nether a.
- Situated down or below; lying beneath, or in the lower part; having a lower position; belonging to the region below; lower; under; -- opposed to upper. [OE. nethere, neithere, AS. ni, fr. the adv. ni downward; akin to neo below, beneath, D. neder down, G. nieder, Sw. nedre below, nether, a. & adv., and also to S]
- boeotian a.
- Of or pertaining to Boeotia; hence, stupid; dull; obtuse. [L. Boeotia, Gr. , noted for its moist, thick atmosphere, and the dullness and stupidity of its inhabitants.]
- pointless a.
- Having no point; blunt; wanting keenness; obtuse; as, a pointless sword; a pointless remark.
- ceres n.
- The daughter of Saturn and Ops or Rhea, the goddess of corn and tillage. [L., Ceres, also corn, grain, akin to E. create.]
- sepulchre n.
- The place in which the dead body of a human being is interred, or a place set apart for that purpose; a grave; a tomb. [OE. sepulcre, OF. sepulcre, F. sépulcre, fr. L. sepulcrum, sepulchrum, fr. sepelire to bury.]
- eigh interj.
- An exclamation expressing delight.
- propitiate v. t.
- To appease to render favorable; to make propitious; to conciliate. [L. propitiatus, p. p. of propitiare to propitiate, fr. propitius favorable. See Propitious.]
- rushy a.
- Abounding with rushes.
- swill v. t.
- To wash; to drench. [OE. swilen to wash, AS. swilian.]
- cleaner n.
- One who, or that which, cleans.
- laureate a.
- Crowned, or decked, with laurel. [L. laureatus, fr. laurea laurel tree, fr. laureus of laurel, fr. laurus laurel: cf. F. lauréat. Cf. Laurel.]
- noonday n.
- Midday; twelve o'clock in the day; noon.
- annals n.
- A relation of events in chronological order, each event being recorded under the year in which it happened. [L. annalis (sc. liber), and more frequently in the pl. annales (sc. libri), chronicles, fr. annus year. Cf. Annual.]
- fitter n.
- A little piece; a flitter; a flinder.
- semichorus n.
- A half chorus; a passage to be sung by a selected portion of the voices, as the female voices only, in contrast with the full choir.
- brawn n.
- A muscle; flesh. [OF. braon fleshy part, muscle, fr. HG. br flesh, G. braten roast meat; akin to Icel. br flesh, food of beasts, AS. brbr to roast, G. braten, and possibly to E. ]
- ought p. p.
- Was or were under obligation to pay; owed. [Orig. the preterit of the verb to owe. OE. oughte, aughte, ahte, AS. ahte. sq. root110. See Owe.]
- solomon n.
- One of the kings of Israel, noted for his superior wisdom and magnificent reign; hence, a very wise man.
- sire n.
- A lord, master, or other person in authority. See Sir. [F. sire, originally, an older person. See Sir.]
- spay v. t.
- To remove or extirpate the ovaries of, as a sow or a bitch; to castrate (a female animal).
- starvation n.
- The act of starving, or the state of being starved.
- famine n.
- General scarcity of food; dearth; a want of provisions; destitution. [F. famine, fr. L. fames hunger; cf. Gr. hani loss, lack, ha to leave.]
- theban a.
- Of or pertaining to Thebes. Theban year (Anc. Chron.), the Egyptian year of 365 days and 6 hours. J. Bryant. [L. Thebanus.]
- hunks n.
- A covetous, sordid man; a miser; a niggard. [Etymol. uncertain.]
- carious a.
- Affected with caries; decaying; as, a carious tooth. [L. cariosus, fr. caries dacay.]
- january n.
- The first month of the year, containing thirty-one days. [L. Januarius, fr. Janus an old Latin deity, the god of the sun and the year, to whom the month of January was sacred; cf. janua a door, Skr. ya to go.]
- butchering n.
- The business of a butcher.
- mutinous a.
- Disposed to mutiny; in a state of mutiny; characterized by mutiny; seditious; insubordinate. [See Mutiny.]
- topple v. i.
- To fall forward; to pitch or tumble down. [From Top summit.]
- backs n.
- Among leather dealers, the thickest and stoutest tanned hides.
- mammon n.
- Riches; wealth; the god of riches; riches, personified. [L. mammona, Gr. mam; cf. Heb. matm a hiding place, subterranean storehouse, treasury, fr. taman to hide.]
- decimate v. t.
- To take the tenth part of; to tithe. Johnson. [L. decimatus, p. p. of decimare to decimate (in senses 1 & 2), fr. decimus tenth. See Decimal.]
- bilious a.
- Of or pertaining to the bile. [L. biliosus, fr. bilis bile.]
- vestal a.
- Of or pertaining to Vesta, the virgin goddess of the hearth; hence, pure; chaste. [L. Vestalis belonging to Vesta, vestal. See Vesta.]
- oracle v. i.
- To utter oracles.
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- lesbian a.
- Of or pertaining to the island anciently called Lesbos, now Mitylene, in the Grecian Archipelago.
- virtuous a.
- Possessing or exhibiting virtue. Specifically: -- (a) Exhibiting manly courage and strength; valorous; valiant; brave. [OE. vertuous, OF. vertuos, vertuous, F. vertueux, fr. L. Virtuous. See Virtue, and cf. Virtuoso.]
- gules n.
- The tincture red, indicated in seals and engraved figures of escutcheons by parallel vertical lines. Hence, used poetically for a red color or that which is red. [OE. goules, F. gueules, the same word as gueule throat, OF. gole, goule, L. gula. So named from the red color of the throat. See Gullet, and cf. Gula.]
- enchanted a.
- Under the power of enchantment; possessed or exercised by enchanters; as, an enchanted castle.
- gadfly n.
- Any dipterous insect of the genus Oestrus, and allied genera of botflies. [Gad + fly.]
- scarabee n.
- Any one of numerous species of lamellicorn beetles of the genus Scarabæus, or family Scarabæidæ, especially the sacred, or Egyptian, species (Scarabæus sacer, and S. Egyptiorum). [L. scarabeus; cf. F. scarabée.]
- immedicable a.
- Not to be healed; incurable. [L. Immedicabilis. See In- not, and Medicable.]
- trumpets n.
- A plant (Sarracenia flava) with long, hollow leaves.
- isle v. t.
- To cause to become an island, or like an island; to surround or encompass; to island.
- chersonese n.
- A peninsula; a tract of land nearly surrounded by water, but united to a larger tract by a neck of land or isthmus; as, the Cimbric Chersonese, or Jutland; the Tauric Chersonese, or Crimea.
- elysium n.
- A dwelling place assigned to happy souls after death; the seat of future happiness; Paradise.
- parthenope n.
- One of the Sirens, who threw herself into the sea, in despair at not being able to beguile Ulysses by her songs.
- saturnian a.
- Of or pertaining to Saturn, whose age or reign, from the mildness and wisdom of his government, is called the golden age. [L. Saturnius.]
- crawl v. i.
- To move slowly by drawing the body along the ground, as a worm; to move slowly on hands and kness; to creep. [Dan. kravle, or Icel. krafla, to paw, scrabble with the hands; akin to Sw. kr to crawl; cf. LG. krabbeln, D. krabbelen to scratch.]
- capaciously adv.
- In a capacious manner or degree; comprehensively.
- insatiably adv.
- In an insatiable manner or degree; unappeasably.
- plethoric a.
- Haeving a full habit of body; characterized by plethora or excess of blood; as, a plethoric constitution; -- used also metaphorically. [Gr. pléthorique.]
- suffice v. i.
- To be enough, or sufficient; to meet the need (of anything); to be equal to the end proposed; to be adequate. [OE. suffisen, OF. soufire, F. suffire (cf. suffisant, p.pr.), L. sufficere to put under, to substitute, to avail for, to suffice; sub under + facere to make. Se]
- swinish a.
- Of or pertaining to swine; befitting swine; like swine; hoggish; gross; beasty; as, a swinish drunkard or sot.
- unadulterate a.
- Not adulterated; pure.
- connexion n.
- Connection. See Connection. [L. connexio: cf. F. connexion.]
- bridegroom n.
- A man newly married, or just about to be married. [OE. bridegome, brudgume, AS. br (akin to OS. br, D. bruidegom, bruigom, OHG. pr, MHG. briutegome, G. bräutigam); AS. br bride + guma man, akin to Goth. guma, Ic]
- promising a.
- Making a promise or promises; affording hope or assurance; as, promising person; a promising day.
- gibbet n.
- A kind of gallows; an upright post with an arm projecting from the top, on which, formerly, malefactors were hanged in chains, and their bodies allowed to remain asa warning. [OE. gibet, F. gibet, in OF. also club, fr. LL. gibetum;; cf. OF. gibe sort of sickle or hook, It. giubbetto gibbet, and giubbetta, dim. of giubba mane, also, an]
- catechism n.
- A form of instruction by means of questions answers. [L. catechismus, fr. Gr. See Catechise.]
- gadding a.
- Going about much, needlessly or without purpose.
- morocco n.
- A fine kind of leather, prepared commonly from goatskin (though an inferior kind is made of sheepskin), and tanned with sumac and dyed of various colors; -- said to have been first made by the Moors. [Named from Morocco, the country. Cf. Morris the dance.]
- rung n.
- A floor timber in a ship. [OE. ronge, AS. hrung, a staff, rod, pole; akin to G. runge a short, thick piece of iron or wood, OD. ronghe a prop, support, Icel. röng a rib in a ship, Goth. H]
- clank n.
- A sharp, brief, ringing sound, made by a collision of metallic or other sonorous bodies; -- usually expressing a duller or less resounding sound than clang, and a deeper and stronger sound than clink. [Akin to clink, and of imitative origin; cf. G. klang sound, D. klank. Cf. Clang.]
- ironmonger n.
- A dealer in iron or hardware.
- drove n.
- A collection of cattle driven, or cattle collected for driving; a number of animals, as oxen, sheep, or swine, driven in a body. [AS. draf, fr. drifan to drive. See Drive.]
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
- homeless a.
- Destitute of a home. [AS.hamleas.]
- canting a.
- Speaking in a whining tone of voice; using technical or religious terms affectedly; affectedly pious; as, a canting rogue; a canting tone. - Cant"ing*ly, adv.
- plethory n.
- Plethora. Jer. Taylor.
- cranny n.
- A small, narrow opening, fissure, crevice, or chink, as in a wall, or other substance. [F. cran notch, prob. from L. crena (a doubful word).]
- snaky a.
- Of or pertaining to a snake or snakes; resembling a snake; serpentine; winding.
- scranny a.
- Thin; lean; meager; scrawny; scrannel. [See Scrannel.]
- aroint interj.
- Stand off, or begone. [Cf. Prov. E. rynt, rynt thee, roynt, or runt, terms used by milkmaids to a cow that has been milked, in order to drive her away, to make room for others; AS. r ]
- babylonian a.
- Of or pertaining to the real or to the mystical Babylon, or to the ancient kingdom of Babylonia; Chaldean.
- hymen n.
- A fold of muscous membrane often found at the orifice of the vagina; the vaginal membrane.
- wedded a.
- Joined in wedlock; married.
- cursed a.
- Deserving a curse; execrable; hateful; detestable; abominable.
- drank n.
- Wild oats, or darnel grass. See Drake a plant. [Cf. 3d Drake.]
- impanel v. t.
- To enter in a list, or on a piece of parchment, called a panel; to form or enroll, as a list of jurors in a court of justice. [Pref. im- in + panel. Cf. Empanel.]
- tawdry a.
- Bought at the festival of St. Audrey. [Said to be corrupted from Saint Audrey, or Auldrey, meaning Saint Ethelreda, implying therefore, originally, bought at the fair of St. Audrey, where laces and g]
- lustre n.
- A period of five years; a lustrum. [L. lustrum: cf. F. lustre.]
- grin n.
- A snare; a gin. [AS. grin.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Oedipus Tyrannus; or, Swellfoot the Tyrant is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley — Volume 1, Project Gutenberg ebook #4797; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Percy Bysshe Shelley, Oedipus Tyrannus; or, Swellfoot the Tyrant, in Alastor, and Other Poems (1813–1820), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #4797, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shelley-poems/oedipus-tyrannus-or-swellfoot-the-tyrant.html, id L00265.
Form and metre
Oedipus Tyrannus; or, Swellfoot the Tyrant is 428 lines in 69 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 ABBA warA · dogsB · hogsB · minotaurA
- 2 ----A-ABB--------- swellfoot · divine · array · paunch · breezeA · promontories · theseA · pyramidB · laidB · brain · nothing · emperors · millers · army · persecution · devils · ceres · hail
- 3 A---A noteA · who · egyptians · their · noteA
- 10 AA- sameA · nameA · me
- 11 AA- willA · killA · thee
- 13 AABBCCDEDEFF singA · thingA · pigsB · sprigsB · dewC · tooC · catchD · itchE · thatchD · ditchE · noneF · begunF
- 19 -AABB--CDCDEE semichorus · weA · seaA · devilsB · revelsB · compassion · nation · bristlesC · colonsD · gristlesC · solonsD · strawE · lawE
- 28 --A--A-- swellfoot · same · whenA · streets · day · carrionA · lump · them
- 35 --ABBA purganax · thus · warA · dogsB · hogsB · minotaurA
- 36 ------A---A mammon · foretold · arrive · has · divine · words · trueA · all · none · much · doA
- 38 -------A-B---B-----A mammon · tickets · taken · abroad · ends · virtue · do · ionaA · did · creteB · here · descent · still · degenerateB · bull · thebes · gules · beef · precedent · ionaA
- 39 -A-AB-C--CD----B---D---------- purganax · careA · earth · bareA · shapesB · rat · sentC · mentions · mountains · tormentC · beastD · scarabee · stings · each · eyes · shapesB · world · dung · crawls · beastD · limits · city · chersonese · isle · rock · fez · shores · free · land · west
- 40 -A-A notes · noteA · aethiopia · noteA
- 44 ----AA---- purganax · leech · rings · make · balloonA · hydrogenA · sucks · maw · fill · ever
- 50 ----A--A------- mammon · bridegroom · family · drop · ohA · fond · public · soA · gibbets · saw · learning · too · catechism · bible · play
- 53 -A-AA-A-AAA gadfly · humA · scalps · comeA · humA · palaces · byzantiumA · palestine · romeA · humA · comeA
- 54 ABABCC---- windowsA · meB · doesA · seeB · bedC · redC · singing · her · ironmonger · hum
- 55 A-AA-A--AA- farA · hips · afarA · farA · pity · starA · blast · war · carA · afarA · hum
- 56 ABABCC-AA- herA · workingB · herA · quirkingB · soonC · moonC · ha · herA · herA · hum
- 57 -AA-- leech · suckA · muckA · plethory · i
- 58 -AABB rat · andA · weasandA · crannyB · scrannyB
- 60 -AA- ugh · divineA · swineA · dewlaps
- 61 -AA rat · forA · minotaurA
- 64 -------A-A------ swellfoot · thebes · hell · jealousy · kings · hair · queens · seaA · rights · meA · — · husband's · hark · taurina · purganax · head
- 67 ---A--A----- purganax · sties · bits · sowsA · glass · tails · cauliflowersA · when · virtue · pigs · up · her
- 69 ---------A--A- laoctonos · knew · bold · apes · square · attack · then · tusks · foe · styA · ground · gin · cryA · swellfoot
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 iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| 'Choose Reform or Civil War, | 7 | ·˘/·/˘· |
| When through thy streets, instead of hare with dogs, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| A CONSORT-QUEEN shall hunt a king with hogs, | 10 | ·˘/······· |
| Riding on the IONIAN MINOTAUR.' | 11 | /˘··˘/˘˘/˘˘ |
| SWELLFOOT: | 2 | ·· |
| Thou supreme Goddess! by whose power divine | 10 | ·˘//˘··/˘/ |
| These graceful limbs are clothed in proud array | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Of gold and purple, and this kingly paunch | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Swells like a sail before a favouring breeze, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And these most sacred nether promontories | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Lie satisfied with layers of fat; and these | 11 | ·/˘··/˘···· |
| Boeotian cheeks, like Egypt's pyramid, | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘/˘˘ |
| (Nor with less toil were their foundations laid), | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Sustain the cone of my untroubled brain, | 10 | ˘/····˘/˘· |
| That point, the emblem of a pointless nothing! | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Thou to whom Kings and laurelled Emperors, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
| Radical-butchers, Paper-money-millers, | 11 | /˘˘/˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| Bishops and Deacons, and the entire army | 11 | /˘·/˘··˘//˘ |
| Of those fat martyrs to the persecution | 11 | ···/˘···˘/˘ |
| Of stifling turtle-soup, and brandy-devils, | 11 | ·/˘/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Offer their secret vows! Thou plenteous Ceres | 12 | /˘·/˘··/˘˘/˘ |
| Of their Eleusis, hail! | 6 | ······ |
| NOTE: | 1 | · |
| (8 See Universal History for an account of the number of people who | 19 | ··˘/˘/˘··˘/··/˘·/˘· |
| died, and the immense consumption of garlic by the wretched Egyptians, | 18 | ···˘/˘/˘·/˘··/˘˘/˘ |
| who made a sepulchre for the name as well as the bodies of their | 17 | ·············/˘·· |
| tyrants.--[SHELLEY'S NOTE.]) | 5 | /˘/˘· |
| SWINE: | 1 | · |
| Eigh! eigh! eigh! eigh! | 4 | ···· |
| SWELLFOOT: | 2 | ·· |
| Ha! what are ye, | 4 | ···· |
| Who, crowned with leaves devoted to the Furies, | 11 | ····˘/˘··/˘ |
| Cling round this sacred shrine? | 6 | ···/˘· |
| SWINE: | 1 | · |
| Aigh! aigh! aigh! | 3 | ··· |
| SWELLFOOT: | 2 | ·· |
| What! ye that are | 4 | ···· |
| The very beasts that, offered at her altar | 11 | ·/˘··/˘··/˘ |
| With blood and groans, salt-cake, and fat, and inwards, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Ever propitiate her reluctant will | 10 | /˘/˘˘·˘/˘· |
| When taxes are withheld? | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| SWINE: | 1 | · |
| Ugh! ugh! ugh! | 3 | ··· |
| SWELLFOOT: | 2 | ·· |
| What! ye who grub | 4 | ···· |
| With filthy snouts my red potatoes up | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| In Allan's rushy bog? Who eat the oats | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Up, from my cavalry in the Hebrides? | 11 | ···/˘˘··/˘˘ |
| Who swill the hog-wash soup my cooks digest | 10 | ········˘/ |
| From bones, and rags, and scraps of shoe-leather, | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Which should be given to cleaner Pigs than you? | 10 | ···/·/˘··· |
| The same, alas! the same; | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| Though only now the name | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Of Pig remains to me. | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| If 'twere your kingly will | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Us wretched Swine to kill, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| What should we yield to thee? | 6 | ······ |
| SWELLFOOT: | 2 | ·· |
| Why, skin and bones, and some few hairs for mortar. | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| I have heard your Laureate sing, | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| That pity was a royal thing; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Under your mighty ancestors, we Pigs | 10 | ···/˘/·˘·· |
| Were bless'd as nightingales on myrtle sprigs, | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘· |
| Or grasshoppers that live on noonday dew, | 10 | ·/·˘···/˘· |
| And sung, old annals tell, as sweetly too; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| But now our sties are fallen in, we catch | 10 | ··/··/˘··· |
| The murrain and the mange, the scab and itch; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Sometimes your royal dogs tear down our thatch, | 10 | ˘/·/˘···/· |
| And then we seek the shelter of a ditch; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Hog-wash or grains, or ruta-baga, none | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Has yet been ours since your reign begun. | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| FIRST SOW: | 2 | ·· |
| My Pigs, 'tis in vain to tug. | 7 | ······· |
| SECOND SOW: | 3 | /˘· |
| I could almost eat my litter. | 8 | ··/···/˘ |
| FIRST PIG: | 2 | ·· |
| I suck, but no milk will come from the dug. | 10 | ·········· |
| SECOND PIG: | 3 | /˘· |
| Our skin and our bones would be bitter. | 11 | /˘··/˘···/˘ |
| THE BOARS: | 2 | ·· |
| We fight for this rag of greasy rug, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Though a trough of wash would be fitter. | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| SEMICHORUS: | 3 | /˘˘ |
| Happier Swine were they than we, | 8 | /˘˘····· |
| Drowned in the Gadarean sea-- | 7 | ······· |
| I wish that pity would drive out the devils, | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| Which in your royal bosom hold their revels, | 11 | ···/˘/˘··/˘ |
| And sink us in the waves of thy compassion! | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| Alas! the Pigs are an unhappy nation! | 11 | ˘/····˘/˘/˘ |
| Now if your Majesty would have our bristles | 11 | ···/˘˘··//˘ |
| To bind your mortar with, or fill our colons | 11 | ···/˘···//˘ |
| With rich blood, or make brawn out of our gristles, | 11 | ········//˘ |
| In policy--ask else your royal Solons-- | 11 | ·/˘˘···/˘/˘ |
| You ought to give us hog-wash and clean straw, | 10 | ·········· |
| And sties well thatched; besides it is the law! | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| SWELLFOOT: | 2 | ·· |
| This is sedition, and rank blasphemy! | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘˘ |
| Ho! there, my guards! | 4 | ···· |
| GUARD: | 1 | · |
| Your sacred Majesty. | 6 | ·/˘/˘˘ |
| SWELLFOOT: | 2 | ·· |
| Call in the Jews, Solomon the court porkman, | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| Moses the sow-gelder, and Zephaniah | 10 | /˘··/˘···· |
| The hog-butcher. | 4 | ··/˘ |
| GUARD: | 1 | · |
| They are in waiting, Sire. | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| SWELLFOOT: | 2 | ·· |
| Out with your knife, old Moses, and spay those Sows | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| That load the earth with Pigs; cut close and deep. | 10 | ·········· |
| Moral restraint I see has no effect, | 10 | /˘˘/····˘/ |
| Nor prostitution, nor our own example, | 11 | ··˘/˘·/·˘/˘ |
| Starvation, typhus-fever, war, nor prison-- | 11 | ˘/˘/˘/˘··/˘ |
| This was the art which the arch-priest of Famine | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Hinted at in his charge to the Theban clergy-- | 12 | /˘······/˘/˘ |
| Cut close and deep, good Moses. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| MOSES: | 2 | /˘ |
| Let your Majesty | 5 | ··/˘˘ |
| Keep the Boars quiet, else-- | 6 | ···/˘· |
| SWELLFOOT: | 2 | ·· |
| Zephaniah, cut | 4 | ···· |
| That fat Hog's throat, the brute seems overfed; | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Seditious hunks! to whine for want of grains. | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| ZEPHANIAH: | 3 | ··· |
| Your sacred Majesty, he has the dropsy;-- | 11 | ·/˘/˘˘···/˘ |
| We shall find pints of hydatids in 's liver, | 12 | ··········/˘ |
| He has not half an inch of wholesome fat | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Upon his carious ribs-- | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| SWELLFOOT: | 2 | ·· |
| 'Tis all the same, | 4 | ···· |
| He'll serve instead of riot money, when | 10 | ··˘/·/˘/˘· |
| Our murmuring troops bivouac in Thebes' streets | 10 | //˘˘·/˘··· |
| And January winds, after a day | 10 | ·/˘·˘····· |
| Of butchering, will make them relish carrion. | 11 | ·/˘···/˘/˘˘ |
| Now, Solomon, I'll sell you in a lump | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| The whole kit of them. | 5 | ····· |
| SOLOMON: | 3 | /˘˘ |
| Why, your Majesty, | 5 | ··/˘˘ |
| I could not give-- | 4 | ···· |
| SWELLFOOT: | 2 | ·· |
| Kill them out of the way, | 6 | ······ |
| That shall be price enough, and let me hear | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Their everlasting grunts and whines no more! | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| PURGANAX: | 3 | ··· |
| The future looks as black as death, a cloud, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Dark as the frown of Hell, hangs over it-- | 10 | ·········· |
| The troops grow mutinous--the revenue fails-- | 10 | ···/˘·/˘·· |
| There's something rotten in us--for the level | 11 | ·/˘/˘····/˘ |
| Of the State slopes, its very bases topple, | 11 | ·····/˘/˘/˘ |
| The boldest turn their backs upon themselves! | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| MAMMON: | 2 | /˘ |
| Why what's the matter, my dear fellow, now? | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Do the troops mutiny?--decimate some regiments; | 11 | ···/˘/˘··/˘ |
| Does money fail?--come to my mint--coin paper, | 11 | ·/˘······/˘ |
| Till gold be at a discount, and ashamed | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| To show his bilious face, go purge himself, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| In emulation of her vestal whiteness. | 11 | ··˘/˘··/˘/˘ |
| PURGANAX: | 3 | ··· |
| Oh, would that this were all! The oracle!! | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| MAMMON: | 2 | /˘ |
| Why it was I who spoke that oracle, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| And whether I was dead drunk or inspired, | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| I cannot well remember; nor, in truth, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| The oracle itself! | 6 | ·/˘˘˘/ |
| PURGANAX: | 3 | ··· |
| The words went thus:-- | 4 | ···· |
| 'Boeotia, choose reform or civil war! | 9 | ···˘/·/˘· |
| When through the streets, instead of hare with dogs, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| A Consort Queen shall hunt a King with Hogs, | 10 | ·˘/······· |
| Riding on the Ionian Minotaur.' | 11 | /˘··˘/˘˘/˘˘ |
| MAMMON: | 2 | /˘ |
| Now if the oracle had ne'er foretold | 10 | ···/˘˘··˘/ |
| This sad alternative, it must arrive, | 10 | ··˘/˘˘··˘/ |
| Or not, and so it must now that it has; | 10 | ·········· |
| And whether I was urged by grace divine | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Or Lesbian liquor to declare these words, | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/·· |
| Which must, as all words must, he false or true, | 10 | ·········· |
| It matters not: for the same Power made all, | 10 | ·/˘····/·· |
| Oracle, wine, and me and you--or none-- | 10 | /˘˘······· |
| 'Tis the same thing. If you knew as much | 9 | ········· |
| Of oracles as I do-- | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| PURGANAX: | 3 | ··· |
| You arch-priests | 3 | ··· |
| Believe in nothing; if you were to dream | 10 | ˘/·/˘····· |
| Of a particular number in the Lottery, | 11 | ··˘/˘/˘··/˘ |
| You would not buy the ticket? | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| MAMMON: | 2 | /˘ |
| Yet our tickets | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| Are seldom blanks. But what steps have you taken? | 11 | ·/˘······/˘ |
| For prophecies, when once they get abroad, | 10 | ·/˘˘····˘/ |
| Like liars who tell the truth to serve their ends, | 10 | ·/········ |
| Or hypocrites who, from assuming virtue, | 11 | ·/˘···˘/˘/˘ |
| Do the same actions that the virtuous do, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Contrive their own fulfilment. This Iona-- | 11 | ˘/······˘/˘ |
| Well--you know what the chaste Pasiphae did, | 9 | ········· |
| Wife to that most religious King of Crete, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| And still how popular the tale is here; | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| And these dull Swine of Thebes boast their descent | 10 | ········˘/ |
| From the free Minotaur. You know they still | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| Call themselves Bulls, though thus degenerate, | 10 | ·˘/···˘/˘· |
| And everything relating to a Bull | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| Is popular and respectable in Thebes. | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘·· |
| Their arms are seven Bulls in a field gules; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| They think their strength consists in eating beef,-- | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| Now there were danger in the precedent | 10 | ···/˘··/˘˘ |
| If Queen Iona-- | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| PURGANAX: | 3 | ··· |
| I have taken good care | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| That shall not be. I struck the crust o' the earth | 11 | ··········· |
| With this enchanted rod, and Hell lay bare! | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| And from a cavern full of ugly shapes | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| I chose a LEECH, a GADFLY, and a RAT. | 10 | ·····/···· |
| The Gadfly was the same which Juno sent | 10 | ·/·····/˘· |
| To agitate Io, and which Ezekiel mentions | 13 | ·/˘·/˘··/˘·/˘ |
| That the Lord whistled for out of the mountains | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| Of utmost Aethiopia, to torment | 10 | ·/······˘/ |
| Mesopotamian Babylon. The beast | 10 | ·˘˘/˘/˘··· |
| Has a loud trumpet like the scarabee, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| His crooked tail is barbed with many stings, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Each able to make a thousand wounds, and each | 11 | ·/˘···/˘··· |
| Immedicable; from his convex eyes | 10 | ˘/˘˘˘··/·· |
| He sees fair things in many hideous shapes, | 10 | ·····//˘˘· |
| And trumpets all his falsehood to the world. | 10 | ·/˘··/···· |
| Like other beetles he is fed on dung-- | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| He has eleven feet with which he crawls, | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Trailing a blistering slime, and this foul beast | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Has tracked Iona from the Theban limits, | 11 | ··˘/˘··/˘/˘ |
| From isle to isle, from city unto city, | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Urging her flight from the far Chersonese | 10 | /˘·····/˘˘ |
| To fabulous Solyma, and the Aetnean Isle, | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| Ortygia, Melite, and Calypso's Rock, | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| And the swart tribes of Garamant and Fez, | 10 | ·········· |
| Aeolia and Elysium, and thy shores, | 10 | ···˘/˘˘··· |
| Parthenope, which now, alas! are free! | 9 | ·····˘/·· |
| And through the fortunate Saturnian land, | 10 | ···/˘˘/˘˘· |
| Into the darkness of the West. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| NOTES: | 1 | · |
| (153 (Io) The Promethetes Bound of Aeschylus.--[SHELLEY'S NOTE.]) | 14 | /˘·········/˘· |
| (153 (Ezekiel) And the Lord whistled for the gadfly out of Aethiopia, | 18 | /˘····/˘··/······· |
| and for the bee of Egypt, etc.--EZEKIEL.--[SHELLEY'S NOTE.]) | 16 | ·····/˘·/˘/˘·/˘· |
| MAMMON: | 2 | /˘ |
| But if | 2 | ·· |
| This Gadfly should drive Iona hither? | 10 | ·/···˘/˘/˘ |
| PURGANAX: | 3 | ··· |
| Gods! what an IF! but there is my gray RAT: | 10 | ·········· |
| So thin with want, he can crawl in and out | 10 | ·········· |
| Of any narrow chink and filthy hole, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| And he shall creep into her dressing-room, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And-- | 1 | · |
| MAMMON: | 2 | /˘ |
| My dear friend, where are your wits? as if | 9 | ········· |
| She does not always toast a piece of cheese | 10 | ···/······ |
| And bait the trap? and rats, when lean enough | 10 | ········˘/ |
| To crawl through SUCH chinks-- | 5 | ····· |
| PURGANAX: | 3 | ··· |
| But my LEECH--a leech | 5 | ····· |
| Fit to suck blood, with lubricous round rings, | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| Capaciously expatiative, which make | 10 | ˘/˘˘······ |
| His little body like a red balloon, | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| As full of blood as that of hydrogen, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Sucked from men's hearts; insatiably he sucks | 10 | ····˘/˘˘·· |
| And clings and pulls--a horse-leech, whose deep maw | 10 | ·········· |
| The plethoric King Swellfoot could not fill, | 10 | ·˘/˘······ |
| And who, till full, will cling for ever. | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| MAMMON: | 2 | /˘ |
| This | 1 | · |
| For Queen Jona would suffice, and less; | 9 | ·····˘/·· |
| But 'tis the Swinish multitude I fear, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| And in that fear I have-- | 6 | ······ |
| PURGANAX: | 3 | ··· |
| Done what? | 2 | ·· |
| MAMMON: | 2 | /˘ |
| Disinherited | 5 | ····· |
| My eldest son Chrysaor, because he | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Attended public meetings, and would always | 11 | ˘/˘/˘/˘··/· |
| Stand prating there of commerce, public faith, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Economy, and unadulterate coin, | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| And other topics, ultra-radical; | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘/˘˘ |
| And have entailed my estate, called the Fool's Paradise, | 13 | ··˘/·˘/···/˘· |
| And funds in fairy-money, bonds, and bills, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Upon my accomplished daughter Banknotina, | 12 | ···˘/˘/˘···· |
| And married her to the gallows. | 8 | ·/˘···/˘ |
| NOTE: | 1 | · |
| (204 'If one should marry a gallows, and beget young gibbets, I never | 16 | ···/˘·/˘·˘/····/ |
| saw one so prone.--CYMBELINE.-- | 7 | ······· |
| PURGANAX: | 3 | ··· |
| A good match! | 3 | ··· |
| MAMMON: | 2 | /˘ |
| A high connexion, Purganax. The bridegroom | 11 | ··˘/˘····/· |
| Is of a very ancient family, | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘˘ |
| Of Hounslow Heath, Tyburn, and the New Drop, | 10 | ·········· |
| And has great influence in both Houses;--oh! | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| He makes the fondest husband; nay, TOO fond,-- | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| New-married people should not kiss in public; | 11 | ·/˘/˘····/˘ |
| But the poor souls love one another so! | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| And then my little grandchildren, the gibbets, | 11 | ···/˘/·˘··· |
| Promising children as you ever saw,-- | 10 | /˘˘/˘··/˘· |
| The young playing at hanging, the elder learning | 12 | ··/˘·/˘·/˘/˘ |
| How to hold radicals. They are well taught too, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| For every gibbet says its catechism | 11 | ·/˘/˘··/˘·˘ |
| And reads a select chapter in the Bible | 11 | ···˘//˘··/˘ |
| Before it goes to play. | 6 | ······ |
| PURGANAX: | 3 | ··· |
| Ha! what do I hear? | 5 | ····· |
| MAMMON: | 2 | /˘ |
| Your Gadfly, as it seems, is tired of gadding. | 11 | ·/·····/·/˘ |
| GADFLY: | 2 | /· |
| Hum! hum! hum! | 3 | ··· |
| From the lakes of the Alps, and the cold gray scalps | 11 | ··········· |
| Of the mountains, I come! | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Hum! hum! hum! | 3 | ··· |
| From Morocco and Fez, and the high palaces | 11 | ·˘/˘·····/˘ |
| Of golden Byzantium; | 7 | ·/˘˘/˘˘ |
| From the temples divine of old Palestine, | 11 | ··/˘˘/··/˘· |
| From Athens and Rome, | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| With a ha! and a hum! | 6 | ······ |
| I come! I come! | 4 | ···· |
| All inn-doors and windows | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Were open to me: | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| I saw all that sin does, | 6 | ······ |
| Which lamps hardly see | 5 | ··/˘· |
| That burn in the night by the curtained bed,-- | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The impudent lamps! for they blushed not red, | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| Dinging and singing, | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| From slumber I rung her, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Loud as the clank of an ironmonger; | 9 | ······/˘˘ |
| Hum! hum! hum! | 3 | ··· |
| Far, far, far! | 3 | ··· |
| With the trump of my lips, and the sting at my hips, | 12 | ············ |
| I drove her--afar! | 5 | ···˘/ |
| Far, far, far! | 3 | ··· |
| From city to city, abandoned of pity, | 12 | ·/˘·/˘˘/˘·/˘ |
| A ship without needle or star;-- | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| Homeless she passed, like a cloud on the blast, | 10 | /˘········ |
| Seeking peace, finding war;-- | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| She is here in her car, | 6 | ······ |
| From afar, and afar;-- | 6 | ·˘/·˘/ |
| Hum! hum! | 2 | ·· |
| I have stung her and wrung her, | 7 | ······· |
| The venom is working;-- | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| And if you had hung her | 6 | ······ |
| With canting and quirking, | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| She could not be deader than she will be soon;-- | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| I have driven her close to you, under the moon, | 11 | ··/········ |
| Night and day, hum! hum! ha! | 6 | ······ |
| I have hummed her and drummed her | 7 | ······· |
| From place to place, till at last I have dumbed her, | 11 | ··········· |
| Hum! hum! hum! | 3 | ··· |
| LEECH: | 1 | · |
| I will suck | 3 | ··· |
| Blood or muck! | 3 | ··· |
| The disease of the state is a plethory, | 11 | ·˘/·····/˘˘ |
| Who so fit to reduce it as I? | 9 | ····˘/··· |
| RAT: | 1 | · |
| I'll slily seize and | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Let blood from her weasand,-- | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Creeping through crevice, and chink, and cranny, | 10 | /˘·/˘···/˘ |
| With my snaky tail, and my sides so scranny. | 11 | ··/˘·····/˘ |
| PURGANAX: | 3 | ··· |
| Aroint ye! thou unprofitable worm! | 10 | ˘/··˘/˘˘˘· |
| And thou, dull beetle, get thee back to hell! | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| To sting the ghosts of Babylonian kings, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| And the ox-headed Io-- | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Ugh, ugh, ugh! | 3 | ··· |
| Hail! Iona the divine, | 7 | ·˘/˘·˘/ |
| We will be no longer Swine, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| But Bulls with horns and dewlaps. | 7 | ······· |
| RAT: | 1 | · |
| For, | 1 | · |
| You know, my lord, the Minotaur-- | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Be silent! get to hell! or I will call | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| The cat out of the kitchen. Well, Lord Mammon, | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| This is a pretty business. | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| MAMMON: | 2 | /˘ |
| I will go | 3 | ··· |
| And spell some scheme to make it ugly then.-- | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| SWELLFOOT: | 2 | ·· |
| She is returned! Taurina is in Thebes, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| When Swellfoot wishes that she were in hell! | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Oh, Hymen, clothed in yellow jealousy, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘˘ |
| And waving o'er the couch of wedded kings | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| The torch of Discord with its fiery hair; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| This is thy work, thou patron saint of queens! | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Swellfoot is wived! though parted by the sea, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The very name of wife had conjugal rights; | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Her cursed image ate, drank, slept with me, | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| And in the arms of Adiposa oft 290 | 10 | ·········· |
| Her memory has received a husband's-- | 10 | ·/˘˘·˘/·/˘ |
| Hark! | 1 | · |
| How the Swine cry Iona Taurina; | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| I suffer the real presence; Purganax, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Off with her head! | 4 | ···· |
| PURGANAX: | 3 | ··· |
| But I must first impanel | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| A jury of the Pigs. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| SWELLFOOT: | 2 | ·· |
| Pack them then. | 3 | ··· |
| PURGANAX: | 3 | ··· |
| Or fattening some few in two separate sties. | 11 | ·/˘····/˘·· |
| And giving them clean straw, tying some bits | 10 | ·/˘···/˘·· |
| Of ribbon round their legs--giving their Sows | 10 | ·/˘···/˘·· |
The first 400 of 428 lines; the reader marks them all.
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.