Judas. 1731
By the just vengeance of incensed skies,Poor Bishop Judas late repenting dies.The Jews engaged him with a paltry bribe,Amounting hardly to a crown a-tribe;Which though his conscience forced him to restore,(And parsons tell us, no man can do more,)Yet, through despair, of God and man accurst,He lost his bishopric, and hang'd or burst.Those former ages differ'd much from this;Judas betray'd his master with a kiss:But some have kiss'd the gospel fifty times,Whose perjury's the least of all their crimes;Some who can perjure through a two inch-board,Yet keep their bishoprics, and 'scape the cord:Like hemp, which, by a skilful spinster drawnTo slender threads, may sometimes pass for lawn.As ancient Judas by transgression fell,And burst asunder ere he went to hell;So could we see a set of new IscariotsCome headlong tumbling from their mitred chariots;Each modern Judas perish like the first,Drop from the tree with all his bowels burst;Who could forbear, that view'd each guilty face,To cry, "Lo! Judas gone to his own place,His habitation let all men forsake,And let his bishopric another take!"
Words in this poem
- incensed a.
- Angered; enraged.
- bribe n.
- A gift begged; a present. [F. bribe a lump of bread, scraps, leavings of meals (that are generally given to a beggar), LL. briba scrap of bread; cf. OF. briber, brifer, to eat gluttonousl]
- conscience n.
- Knowledge of one's own thoughts or actions; consciousness. [F. conscience, fr. L. conscientia, fr. consciens, p.pr. of conscire to know, to be conscious; con- + scire to know. See Science.]
- accurst p. p.
- Doomed to destruction or misery; cursed; hence, bad enough to be under the curse; execrable; detestable; exceedingly hateful; -- as, an accursed deed.
- bishopric n.
- A diocese; the district over which the jurisdiction of a bishop extends. [AS. bisceoprice; bisceop bishop + rice dominion. See -ric.]
- perjure n.
- A perjured person. [L. perjurus: cf. OF. parjur, F. parjure.]
- spinster n.
- A woman who spins, or whose occupation is to spin. [Spin + -ster.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Judas. 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, Judas. 1731, in On Poetry: A Rhapsody, and Other Poems (1727), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #14353, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems-vol1/judas-1731.html, id L24556.
Form and metre
Judas. 1731 is 26 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 92% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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--DDJJKK skiesA · diesA · bribeB · tribeB · restoreC · moreC · accurstD · burstD · thisE · kissE · timesF · crimesF · boardG · cordG · drawnH · lawnH · fellI · hellI · iscariots · chariots · firstD · burstD · faceJ · placeJ · forsakeK · takeK
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 |
|---|---|---|
| By the just vengeance of incensed skies, | 10 | ···/˘·/·˘· |
| Poor Bishop Judas late repenting dies. | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| The Jews engaged him with a paltry bribe, | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| Amounting hardly to a crown a-tribe; | 10 | ˘/˘/˘····· |
| Which though his conscience forced him to restore, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| (And parsons tell us, no man can do more,) | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Yet, through despair, of God and man accurst, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| He lost his bishopric, and hang'd or burst. | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| Those former ages differ'd much from this; | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Judas betray'd his master with a kiss: | 10 | /˘˘/·/˘··· |
| But some have kiss'd the gospel fifty times, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Whose perjury's the least of all their crimes; | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| Some who can perjure through a two inch-board, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Yet keep their bishoprics, and 'scape the cord: | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| Like hemp, which, by a skilful spinster drawn | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| To slender threads, may sometimes pass for lawn. | 10 | ·/˘··/···· |
| As ancient Judas by transgression fell, | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| And burst asunder ere he went to hell; | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| So could we see a set of new Iscariots | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| Come headlong tumbling from their mitred chariots; | 11 | ·/·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Each modern Judas perish like the first, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Drop from the tree with all his bowels burst; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Who could forbear, that view'd each guilty face, | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| To cry, "Lo! Judas gone to his own place, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| His habitation let all men forsake, | 10 | ··˘/˘···˘/ |
| And let his bishopric another take!" | 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.