Epigram on the Busts in Richmond Hermitage. 1732
With honour thus by Carolina placed,How are these venerable bustoes graced!O queen, with more than regal title crown'd,For love of arts and piety renown'd!How do the friends of virtue joy to seeHer darling sons exalted thus by thee!Nought to their fame can now be added more,Revered by her whom all mankind adore.
to those who had signalized themselves by philosophical research. HoraceWalpole alludes to this her peculiar taste, in his fable called the"Funeral of the Lioness," where the royal shade is made to say:"... where Elysian waters glide,With Clarke and Newton by my side,Purrs o'er the metaphysic page,Or ponders the prophetic rageOf Merlin, who mysterious singsOf men and lions, beasts and kings."
Words in this poem
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
- graced a.
- Endowed with grace; beautiful; full of graces; honorable.
- adore v. t.
- To worship with profound reverence; to pay divine honors to; to honor as deity or as divine. [OE. aouren, anouren, adoren, OF. aorer, adorer, F. adorer, fr. L. adorare; ad + orare to speak, pray, os, oris, mouth. In OE. confused with honor, the French pr]
- elysian a.
- Pertaining, or the abode of the blessed after death; hence, yielding the highest pleasures; exceedingly delightful; beatific. [L. Elysius, fr. Elysium.]
- merlin n.
- A small European falcon (Falco lithofalco, or F. æsalon). [OE. merlion, F. émerillon ; cf. OHG. smirl, G. schmerl ; prob. fr. L. merula blackbird. Cf. Merle.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Epigram on the Busts in Richmond Hermitage. 1732 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, Epigram on the Busts in Richmond Hermitage. 1732, in On Poetry: A Rhapsody, and Other Poems (1727), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #14353, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems-vol1/epigram-on-the-busts-in-richmond-hermitage-1732.html, id L24558.
Form and metre
Epigram on the Busts in Richmond Hermitage. 1732 is 17 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
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 AABBCCDD placedA · gracedA · crown'dB · renown'dB · seeC · theeC · moreD · adoreD
- 2 ---AABBCC horace · the · say · glideA · sideA · pageB · rageB · singsC · kingsC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| With honour thus by Carolina placed, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| How are these venerable bustoes graced! | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| O queen, with more than regal title crown'd, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| For love of arts and piety renown'd! | 9 | ·····/˘˘/ |
| How do the friends of virtue joy to see | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Her darling sons exalted thus by thee! | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| Nought to their fame can now be added more, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Revered by her whom all mankind adore. | 10 | ˘/····//˘/ |
| to those who had signalized themselves by philosophical research. Horace | 18 | ·······˘/··˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| Walpole alludes to this her peculiar taste, in his fable called the | 17 | /·˘/···˘/˘···/˘·· |
| "Funeral of the Lioness," where the royal shade is made to say: | 16 | /˘··/˘˘··/˘····· |
| "... where Elysian waters glide, | 7 | ·˘/˘/˘· |
| With Clarke and Newton by my side, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Purrs o'er the metaphysic page, | 8 | ········ |
| Or ponders the prophetic rage | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Of Merlin, who mysterious sings | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Of men and lions, beasts and kings." | 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.