On Seeing Verses Written upon Windows at Inns
The sage, who said he should be proudOf windows in his breast,Because he ne'er a thought allow'dThat might not be confest;His window scrawl'd by every rake,His breast again would cover,And fairly bid the devil takeThe diamond and the lover.
Words in this poem
- fairly adv.
- In a fairmanner; clearly; openly; plainly; fully; distinctly; frankly.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On Seeing Verses Written upon Windows at Inns 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 Seeing Verses Written upon Windows at Inns, in On Poetry: A Rhapsody, and Other Poems (1727), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #14353, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems-vol1/on-seeing-verses-written-upon-windows-at-inns.html, id L24589.
Form and metre
On Seeing Verses Written upon Windows at Inns is 8 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCDCD. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 96%).
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 ABABCDCD proudA · breastB · allow'dA · confestB · rakeC · coverD · takeC · loverD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The sage, who said he should be proud | 8 | ········ |
| Of windows in his breast, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Because he ne'er a thought allow'd | 8 | ······˘/ |
| That might not be confest; | 6 | ······ |
| His window scrawl'd by every rake, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| His breast again would cover, | 7 | ··˘/·/˘ |
| And fairly bid the devil take | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The diamond and the lover. | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
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.