Apollo; Or, a Problem Solved 1731
Apollo, god of light and wit,Could verse inspire, but seldom writ,Refined all metals with his looks,As well as chemists by their books;As handsome as my lady's page;Sweet five-and-twenty was his age.His wig was made of sunny rays,He crown'd his youthful head with bays;Not all the court of Heaven could showSo nice and so complete a beau.No heir upon his first appearance,With twenty thousand pounds a-year rents,E'er drove, before he sold his land,So fine a coach along the Strand;The spokes, we are by Ovid told,Were silver, and the axle gold:I own, 'twas but a coach-and-four,For Jupiter allows no more.Yet, with his beauty, wealth, and parts,Enough to win ten thousand hearts,No vulgar deity aboveWas so unfortunate in love.Three weighty causes were assign'd,That moved the nymphs to be unkind.Nine Muses always waiting round him,He left them virgins as he found them.His singing was another fault;For he could reach to B in alt:And, by the sentiments of Pliny,Such singers are like Nicolini.At last, the point was fully clear'd;In short, Apollo had no beard.
Words in this poem
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- 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.]
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- unkind a.
- Having no race or kindred; childless. [See Kin kindred.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Apollo; Or, a Problem Solved 1731 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, Apollo; Or, a Problem Solved 1731, in On Poetry: A Rhapsody, and Other Poems (1727), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #14353, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems-vol1/apollo-or-a-problem-solved-1731.html, id L24553.
Form and metre
Apollo; Or, a Problem Solved 1731 is 32 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 75% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, other poems in iambic 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--FFGGHHIIJJKK------LL witA · writA · looksB · booksB · pageC · ageC · raysD · baysD · showE · beauE · appearance · rents · landF · strandF · toldG · goldG · fourH · moreH · partsI · heartsI · aboveJ · loveJ · assign'dK · unkindK · him · them · fault · alt · pliny · nicolini · clear'dL · beardL
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Apollo, god of light and wit, | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| Could verse inspire, but seldom writ, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Refined all metals with his looks, | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| As well as chemists by their books; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| As handsome as my lady's page; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Sweet five-and-twenty was his age. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| His wig was made of sunny rays, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| He crown'd his youthful head with bays; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Not all the court of Heaven could show | 8 | ·····/·· |
| So nice and so complete a beau. | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| No heir upon his first appearance, | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| With twenty thousand pounds a-year rents, | 9 | ·/˘/˘···· |
| E'er drove, before he sold his land, | 8 | ········ |
| So fine a coach along the Strand; | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| The spokes, we are by Ovid told, | 8 | ········ |
| Were silver, and the axle gold: | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| I own, 'twas but a coach-and-four, | 8 | ········ |
| For Jupiter allows no more. | 8 | ·/˘˘˘/·· |
| Yet, with his beauty, wealth, and parts, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Enough to win ten thousand hearts, | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| No vulgar deity above | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘·· |
| Was so unfortunate in love. | 8 | ··˘/˘˘·· |
| Three weighty causes were assign'd, | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| That moved the nymphs to be unkind. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Nine Muses always waiting round him, | 9 | ·/˘/·/˘·· |
| He left them virgins as he found them. | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| His singing was another fault; | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| For he could reach to B in alt: | 8 | ········ |
| And, by the sentiments of Pliny, | 9 | ···/˘˘·/˘ |
| Such singers are like Nicolini. | 9 | ·/˘···˘/˘ |
| At last, the point was fully clear'd; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| In short, Apollo had no beard. | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
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.