A Description of the Morning
Now hardly here and there an hackney-coachAppearing, show'd the ruddy morn's approach.Now Betty from her master's bed had flown,And softly stole to discompose her own;The slip-shod 'prentice from his master's doorHad pared the dirt, and sprinkled round the floor.Now Moll had whirl'd her mop with dext'rous airs,Prepared to scrub the entry and the stairs.The youth with broomy stumps began to traceThe kennel's edge, where wheels had worn the place.The small-coal man was heard with cadence deep,Till drown'd in shriller notes of chimney-sweep:Duns at his lordship's gate began to meet;And brickdust Moll had scream'd through half the street.The turnkey now his flock returning sees,Duly let out a-nights to steal for fees:The watchful bailiffs take their silent stands,And schoolboys lag with satchels in their hands.
Words in this poem
- betty n.
- Etym: [Supposed to be a cant word, from Betty, for Elizabeth, as such an instrument is also called Bess (i. e., Elizabeth) in the Canting Dictionary of 1725, and Jenny (i. e., Jane).]
- flown a.
- Flushed, inflated.
- stole n.
- A long, loose garment reaching to the feet. [AS. stole, L. stola, Gr. stall. See Stall.]
- discompose v. t.
- To disarrange; to interfere with; to disturb; to disorder; to unsettle; to break up. [Pref. dis- + compose: cf. OF. decomposer, F. décomposer.]
- moll a.
- Minor; in the minor mode; as, A moll, that is, A minor. [G., fr. L. mollis soft, tender, elegiac. Cf. Molle.]
- broomy a.
- Of or pertaining to broom; overgrowing with broom; resembling broom or a broom.
- chimney n.
- A fireplace or hearth. Sir W. Raleigh.
- turnkey n.
- A person who has charge of the keys of a prison, for opening and fastening the doors; a warder.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Description of the Morning is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Volume 1, Project Gutenberg ebook #14353; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Jonathan Swift, A Description of the Morning, in On Poetry: A Rhapsody, and Other Poems (1727), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #14353, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems-vol1/a-description-of-the-morning.html, id L24497.
Form and metre
A Description of the Morning is 18 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 97%).
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHII coachA · approachA · flownB · ownB · doorC · floorC · airsD · stairsD · traceE · placeE · deepF · sweepF · meetG · streetG · seesH · feesH · standsI · handsI
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Now hardly here and there an hackney-coach | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Appearing, show'd the ruddy morn's approach. | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Now Betty from her master's bed had flown, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| And softly stole to discompose her own; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| The slip-shod 'prentice from his master's door | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Had pared the dirt, and sprinkled round the floor. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Now Moll had whirl'd her mop with dext'rous airs, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Prepared to scrub the entry and the stairs. | 10 | ˘/···/˘··· |
| The youth with broomy stumps began to trace | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| The kennel's edge, where wheels had worn the place. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| The small-coal man was heard with cadence deep, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Till drown'd in shriller notes of chimney-sweep: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Duns at his lordship's gate began to meet; | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| And brickdust Moll had scream'd through half the street. | 10 | ·········· |
| The turnkey now his flock returning sees, | 10 | ·/····˘/˘· |
| Duly let out a-nights to steal for fees: | 10 | /˘········ |
| The watchful bailiffs take their silent stands, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| And schoolboys lag with satchels in their hands. | 10 | ·/········ |
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.