Lawyer
Since you are pleased to condescendTo ask the judgment of a friend,Your case consider'd, I must thinkYou should withdraw from pen and ink,Forbear your poetry and jokes,And live like other Christian folks;Or if the Muses must inspireYour fancy with their pleasing fire,Take subjects safer for your witThan those on which you lately writ.Commend the times, your thoughts correct,And follow the prevailing sect;Assert that Hyde, in writing story,Shows all the malice of a Tory;While Burnet, in his deathless page,Discovers freedom without rage.To Woolston recommend our youth,For learning, probity, and truth;That noble genius, who unbindsThe chains which fetter freeborn minds;Redeems us from the slavish fearsWhich lasted near two thousand years;He can alone the priesthood humble,Make gilded spires and altars tumble.
Must I commend against my conscience,Such stupid blasphemy and nonsense;To such a subject tune my lyre,And sing like one of Milton's choir,Where devils to a vale retreat,And call the laws of Wisdom, Fate;Lament upon their hapless fall,That Force free Virtue should enthrall?Or shall the charms of Wealth and PowerMake me pollute the Muses' bower?
Words in this poem
- condescend v. i.
- To stoop or descend; to let one's self down; to submit; to waive the privilege of rank or dignity; to accommodate one's self to an inferior. [F. condescendre, LL. condescendere, fr. L. con- + descendere. See Descend.]
- folks n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- deathless a.
- Not subject to death, destruction, or extinction; immortal; undying; imperishable; as, deathless beings; deathless fame.
- probity n.
- Tried virtue or integrity; approved moral excellence; honesty; rectitude; uprightness. [F. probité, fr. L. probitas, fr. probus good, proper, honest. Cf. Prove.]
- freeborn a.
- Born free; not born in vasssalage; inheriting freedom.
- 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.]
- vale n.
- A tract of low ground, or of land between hills; a valley. [OE. val, F. val, L. vallis; perhaps akin to Gr. Avalanche, Vail to lower, Valley.]
- hapless a.
- Without hap or luck; luckless; unfortunate; unlucky; unhappy; as, hapless youth; hapless maid.
- enthrall v. t.
- To hold in thrall; to enslave. See Inthrall. [Pref. en- + thrall. Cf. Inthrall.]
- 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,]
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Lawyer 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, Lawyer, in On Poetry: A Rhapsody, and Other Poems (1727), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #14353, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems-vol1/lawyer.html, id L24544.
Form and metre
Lawyer is 34 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
See 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKKLL condescendA · friendA · thinkB · inkB · jokesC · folksC · inspireD · fireD · witE · writE · correctF · sectF · storyG · toryG · pageH · rageH · youthI · truthI · unbindsJ · mindsJ · fearsK · yearsK · humbleL · tumbleL
- 2 ------AABB conscience · nonsense · lyre · choir · retreat · fate · fallA · enthrallA · powerB · bowerB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Since you are pleased to condescend | 8 | ······˘/ |
| To ask the judgment of a friend, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Your case consider'd, I must think | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| You should withdraw from pen and ink, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Forbear your poetry and jokes, | 8 | ˘/·/˘˘·· |
| And live like other Christian folks; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Or if the Muses must inspire | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Your fancy with their pleasing fire, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Take subjects safer for your wit | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Than those on which you lately writ. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Commend the times, your thoughts correct, | 8 | ˘/····˘/ |
| And follow the prevailing sect; | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Assert that Hyde, in writing story, | 9 | ˘/···/˘/˘ |
| Shows all the malice of a Tory; | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| While Burnet, in his deathless page, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Discovers freedom without rage. | 8 | ˘/˘/˘··· |
| To Woolston recommend our youth, | 8 | ·/˘·˘//· |
| For learning, probity, and truth; | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘·· |
| That noble genius, who unbinds | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| The chains which fetter freeborn minds; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Redeems us from the slavish fears | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| Which lasted near two thousand years; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| He can alone the priesthood humble, | 9 | ··˘/·/˘/˘ |
| Make gilded spires and altars tumble. | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Must I commend against my conscience, | 9 | ··˘/···/˘ |
| Such stupid blasphemy and nonsense; | 9 | ·/˘/˘˘·/˘ |
| To such a subject tune my lyre, | 8 | ···˘/··· |
| And sing like one of Milton's choir, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Where devils to a vale retreat, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| And call the laws of Wisdom, Fate; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Lament upon their hapless fall, | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| That Force free Virtue should enthrall? | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Or shall the charms of Wealth and Power | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Make me pollute the Muses' bower? | 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.