Horace, Book Iv, Ode IX Addressed to Archbishop King, 1718
Virtue conceal'd within our breastIs inactivity at best:But never shall the Muse endureTo let your virtues lie obscure;Or suffer Envy to concealYour labours for the public weal.Within your breast all wisdom lies,Either to govern or advise;Your steady soul preserves her frame,In good and evil times, the same.Pale Avarice and lurking Fraud,Stand in your sacred presence awed;Your hand alone from gold abstains,Which drags the slavish world in chains.Him for a happy man I own,Whose fortune is not overgrown;And happy he who wisely knowsTo use the gifts that Heaven bestows;Or, if it please the powers divine,Can suffer want and not repine.The man who infamy to shunInto the arms of death would run;That man is ready to defend,With life, his country or his friend.
"Non possidentem multa vocaverisrecte beatum: rectius occupatnomen beati, qui deorummuneribus sapienter utiduramque callet pauperiem pati,
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- avarice n.
- An excessive or inordinate desire of gain; greediness after wealth; covetousness; cupidity. [F. avaritia, fr. avarus avaricious, prob. fr. av to covert, fr. a root av to satiate one's self: cf. Gr. av to satiate one's self, rejoice, protect.]
- repine v. i.
- To fail; to wane. [Pref. re- + pine to languish.]
- callet n.
- A trull or prostitute; a scold or gossip. [Cf. Ir. & Gael. caile a country woman, strumpet.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Horace, Book Iv, Ode IX Addressed to Archbishop King, 1718 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, Horace, Book Iv, Ode IX Addressed to Archbishop King, 1718, in On Poetry: A Rhapsody, and Other Poems (1727), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #14353, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems-vol1/horace-book-iv-ode-ix-addressed-to-archbishop-king-1718.html, id L24502.
Form and metre
Horace, Book Iv, Ode IX Addressed to Archbishop King, 1718 is 29 lines in 2 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 76% 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHII--JJKK breastA · bestA · endureB · obscureB · concealC · wealC · liesD · adviseD · frameE · sameE · fraudF · awedF · abstainsG · chainsG · ownH · overgrownH · knowsI · bestowsI · divine · repine · shunJ · runJ · defendK · friendK
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Virtue conceal'd within our breast | 8 | /˘˘/··/· |
| Is inactivity at best: | 8 | ·˘˘/˘˘·· |
| But never shall the Muse endure | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| To let your virtues lie obscure; | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Or suffer Envy to conceal | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Your labours for the public weal. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Within your breast all wisdom lies, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Either to govern or advise; | 8 | /˘·/˘·˘/ |
| Your steady soul preserves her frame, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| In good and evil times, the same. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Pale Avarice and lurking Fraud, | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| Stand in your sacred presence awed; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Your hand alone from gold abstains, | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| Which drags the slavish world in chains. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Him for a happy man I own, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Whose fortune is not overgrown; | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| And happy he who wisely knows | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| To use the gifts that Heaven bestows; | 8 | ·····/˘/ |
| Or, if it please the powers divine, | 8 | ·····/˘/ |
| Can suffer want and not repine. | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| The man who infamy to shun | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| Into the arms of death would run; | 8 | ········ |
| That man is ready to defend, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| With life, his country or his friend. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| "Non possidentem multa vocaveris | 11 | ··········· |
| recte beatum: rectius occupat | 8 | ········ |
| nomen beati, qui deorum | 7 | ······· |
| muneribus sapienter uti | 9 | ········· |
| duramque callet pauperiem pati, | 9 | ··/˘····· |
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.