On Paddy's Character of the "Intelligencer." 1729
As a thorn bush, or oaken bough,Stuck in an Irish cabin's brow,Above the door, at country fair,Betokens entertainment there;So bays on poets' brows have beenSet, for a sign of wit within.And as ill neighbours in the nightPull down an alehouse bush for spite;The laurel so, by poets worn,Is by the teeth of Envy torn;Envy, a canker-worm, which tearsThose sacred leaves that lightning spares.And now, t'exemplify this moral:Tom having earn'd a twig of laurel,(Which, measured on his head, was foundNot long enough to reach half round,But, like a girl's cockade, was tied,A trophy, on his temple-side,)Paddy repined to see him wearThis badge of honour in his hair;And, thinking this cockade of witWould his own temples better fit,Forming his Muse by Smedley's model,Lets drive at Tom's devoted noddle,Pelts him by turns with verse and proseHums like a hornet at his nose.At length presumes to vent his satire onThe Dean, Tom's honour'd friend and patron.The eagle in the tale, ye know,Teazed by a buzzing wasp below,Took wing to Jove, and hoped to restSecurely in the thunderer's breast:In vain; even there, to spoil his nod,The spiteful insect stung the god.
Words in this poem
- oaken a.
- Made or consisting of oaks or of the wood of oaks. [AS. acen.]
- trophy n.
- A sign or memorial of a victory raised on the field of battle, or, in case of a naval victory, on the nearest land. Sometimes trophies were erected in the chief city of the conquered people. [F. trophée (cf. It. & Sp. trofeo), L. tropaeum, trophaeum, Gr. Trope.]
- paddy a.
- Low; mean; boorish; vagabond. [Prov. E. paddy worm-eaten.]
- 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.]
- noddle n.
- The head; -- used jocosely or contemptuously. [OE. nodil, nodle; perh. fr. nod, because the head is the nodding part of the body, or perh. akin to E. knot; cf. Prov. E. nod the nape of the neck.]
- jove n.
- The chief divinity of the ancient Romans; Jupiter. [L. Jupiter, gen. Jovis, OL. Jovis, nom. & gen. for Djovis; akin to E. Tuesday. See Tuesday, and cf. Jupiter.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On Paddy's Character of the "Intelligencer." 1729 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, On Paddy's Character of the "Intelligencer." 1729, in On Poetry: A Rhapsody, and Other Poems (1727), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #14353, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems-vol1/on-paddy-s-character-of-the-intelligencer-1729.html, id L24609.
Form and metre
On Paddy's Character of the "Intelligencer." 1729 is 34 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets: 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKKLLMMNNOOPPQQ boughA · browA · fairB · thereB · beenC · withinC · nightD · spiteD · wornE · tornE · tearsF · sparesF · moralG · laurelG · foundH · roundH · tiedI · sideI · wearJ · hairJ · witK · fitK · modelL · noddleL · proseM · noseM · onN · patronN · knowO · belowO · restP · breastP · nodQ · godQ
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 |
|---|---|---|
| As a thorn bush, or oaken bough, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Stuck in an Irish cabin's brow, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Above the door, at country fair, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Betokens entertainment there; | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| So bays on poets' brows have been | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Set, for a sign of wit within. | 8 | ········ |
| And as ill neighbours in the night | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Pull down an alehouse bush for spite; | 8 | ···/···· |
| The laurel so, by poets worn, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Is by the teeth of Envy torn; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Envy, a canker-worm, which tears | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Those sacred leaves that lightning spares. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And now, t'exemplify this moral: | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Tom having earn'd a twig of laurel, | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| (Which, measured on his head, was found | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Not long enough to reach half round, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| But, like a girl's cockade, was tied, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| A trophy, on his temple-side,) | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Paddy repined to see him wear | 8 | /˘······ |
| This badge of honour in his hair; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And, thinking this cockade of wit | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| Would his own temples better fit, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Forming his Muse by Smedley's model, | 9 | /˘···/˘/˘ |
| Lets drive at Tom's devoted noddle, | 9 | ····˘/˘/˘ |
| Pelts him by turns with verse and prose | 8 | ········ |
| Hums like a hornet at his nose. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| At length presumes to vent his satire on | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| The Dean, Tom's honour'd friend and patron. | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| The eagle in the tale, ye know, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Teazed by a buzzing wasp below, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Took wing to Jove, and hoped to rest | 8 | ········ |
| Securely in the thunderer's breast: | 9 | ˘/˘······ |
| In vain; even there, to spoil his nod, | 8 | ··/····· |
| The spiteful insect stung the god. | 8 | ·/˘/···· |
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