Bouts Rimez
Our schoolmaster may roar i' th' fit,Of classic beauty, haec et illa;Not all his birch inspires such witAs th'ogling beams of Domitilla.
Let nobles toast, in bright champaign,Nymphs higher born than Domitilla;I'll drink her health, again, again,In Berkeley's tar, or sars'parilla.
At Goodman's Fields I've much admiredThe postures strange of Monsieur Brilla;But what are they to the soft step,The gliding air of Domitilla?
Virgil has eternized in songThe flying footsteps of Camilla;Sure, as a prophet, he was wrong;He might have dream'd of Domitilla.
Great Theodose condemn'd a townFor thinking ill of his Placilla:And deuce take London! if some knightO' th' city wed not Domitilla.
Wheeler, Sir George, in travels wise,Gives us a medal of Plantilla;But O! the empress has not eyes,Nor lips, nor breast, like Domitilla.
Not all the wealth of plunder'd Italy,Piled on the mules of king At-tila,Is worth one glove (I'll not tell a bit a lie)Or garter, snatch'd from Domitilla.
Five years a nymph at certain hamlet,Y-cleped Harrow of the Hill, a---bused much my heart, and was a damn'd letTo verse--but now for Domitilla.
Dan Pope consigns Belinda's watchTo the fair sylphid Momentilla,And thus I offer up my catchTo the snow-white hands of Domitilla.
Words in this poem
- classic a.
- Of or relating to the first class or rank, especially in literature or art. [L. classicus relating to the classes of the Roman people, and especially to the frist class; hence, of the first rank, superior, from classis class: cf. F. clas]
- champaign n.
- A flat, open country. [OF. champaigne; same word as campagne.]
- admired a.
- Regarded with wonder and delight; highly prized; as, an admired poem.
- monsieur n.
- The common title of civility in France in speaking to, or of, a man; Mr. or Sir. [Represented by the abbreviation M. or Mons. in the singular, and by MM. or Messrs. in the plural.] [F., fr. mon my + Sieur, abbrev. of seigneur lord. See Monseigneur.]
- wheeler n.
- One who wheels, or turns.
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- piled a.
- Having a pile or point; pointed. [From 2d Pile.]
- garter n.
- A band used to prevent a stocking from slipping down on the leg. [OE. gartier, F. jarretière, fr. OF. garet bend of the knee, F. jarret; akin to Sp. garra claw, Prov. garra leg. See Garrote.]
- sylphid n.
- A little sylph; a young or diminutive sylph. [F. sylphide, fem. See Sylph.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Bouts Rimez 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, Bouts Rimez, in On Poetry: A Rhapsody, and Other Poems (1727), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #14353, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems-vol1/bouts-rimez.html, id L25615.
Form and metre
Bouts Rimez is 36 lines in 9 stanzas of 4 lines each. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABAB, in 4 of the 9 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
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 ABAB fitA · illaB · witA · domitillaB
- 2 ABAB champaignA · domitillaB · againA · sars'parillaB
- 3 -A-A admired · brillaA · step · domitillaA
- 4 ABAB songA · camillaB · wrongA · domitillaB
- 5 -A-A town · placillaA · knight · domitillaA
- 6 ABAB wiseA · plantillaB · eyesA · domitillaB
- 8 A-A- hamletA · a · letA · domitilla
- 9 -A-A watch · momentillaA · catch · domitillaA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Our schoolmaster may roar i' th' fit, | 8 | //·˘···· |
| Of classic beauty, haec et illa; | 9 | ·/˘/˘···· |
| Not all his birch inspires such wit | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| As th'ogling beams of Domitilla. | 9 | ········· |
| Let nobles toast, in bright champaign, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Nymphs higher born than Domitilla; | 8 | ·/······ |
| I'll drink her health, again, again, | 8 | ····˘/˘/ |
| In Berkeley's tar, or sars'parilla. | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| At Goodman's Fields I've much admired | 9 | ·/····˘/˘ |
| The postures strange of Monsieur Brilla; | 9 | ·/˘··˘/·· |
| But what are they to the soft step, | 8 | ········ |
| The gliding air of Domitilla? | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Virgil has eternized in song | 8 | /˘······ |
| The flying footsteps of Camilla; | 9 | ·/˘/··˘/˘ |
| Sure, as a prophet, he was wrong; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| He might have dream'd of Domitilla. | 9 | ········· |
| Great Theodose condemn'd a town | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| For thinking ill of his Placilla: | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| And deuce take London! if some knight | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| O' th' city wed not Domitilla. | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Wheeler, Sir George, in travels wise, | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Gives us a medal of Plantilla; | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| But O! the empress has not eyes, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Nor lips, nor breast, like Domitilla. | 9 | ········· |
| Not all the wealth of plunder'd Italy, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Piled on the mules of king At-tila, | 9 | ········· |
| Is worth one glove (I'll not tell a bit a lie) | 11 | ··········· |
| Or garter, snatch'd from Domitilla. | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Five years a nymph at certain hamlet, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Y-cleped Harrow of the Hill, a- | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| --bused much my heart, and was a damn'd let | 9 | ········· |
| To verse--but now for Domitilla. | 9 | ········· |
| Dan Pope consigns Belinda's watch | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| To the fair sylphid Momentilla, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| And thus I offer up my catch | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To the snow-white hands of Domitilla. | 10 | ·········· |
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