On the Union
The queen has lately lost a partOf her ENTIRELY-ENGLISH heart,For want of which, by way of botch,She pieced it up again with SCOTCH.Blest revolution! which createsDivided hearts, united states!See how the double nation lies,Like a rich coat with skirts of frize:As if a man, in making posies,Should bundle thistles up with roses.Who ever yet a union sawOf kingdoms without faith or law?Henceforward let no statesman dareA kingdom to a ship compare;Lest he should call our commonwealA vessel with a double keel:Which, just like ours, new rigg'd and mann'd,And got about a league from land,By change of wind to leeward side,The pilot knew not how to guide.So tossing faction will o'erwhelmOur crazy double-bottom'd realm.
Words in this poem
- henceforward adv.
- From this time forward; henceforth.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On the Union 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 the Union, in On Poetry: A Rhapsody, and Other Poems (1727), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #14353, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems-vol1/on-the-union.html, id L24487.
Form and metre
On the Union is 22 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 AABBCCDDDDEEFFGGHHIIJJ partA · heartA · botchB · scotchB · createsC · statesC · liesD · frizeD · posiesD · rosesD · sawE · lawE · dareF · compareF · commonwealG · keelG · mann'dH · landH · sideI · guideI · o'erwhelmJ · realmJ
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 queen has lately lost a part | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Of her ENTIRELY-ENGLISH heart, | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| For want of which, by way of botch, | 8 | ········ |
| She pieced it up again with SCOTCH. | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Blest revolution! which creates | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
| Divided hearts, united states! | 8 | ˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| See how the double nation lies, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Like a rich coat with skirts of frize: | 8 | ········ |
| As if a man, in making posies, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Should bundle thistles up with roses. | 9 | ·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| Who ever yet a union saw | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Of kingdoms without faith or law? | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Henceforward let no statesman dare | 9 | ······/˘· |
| A kingdom to a ship compare; | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Lest he should call our commonweal | 9 | ····/˘/˘˘ |
| A vessel with a double keel: | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Which, just like ours, new rigg'd and mann'd, | 8 | ···/···· |
| And got about a league from land, | 8 | ········ |
| By change of wind to leeward side, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The pilot knew not how to guide. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| So tossing faction will o'erwhelm | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Our crazy double-bottom'd realm. | 8 | //˘/˘/˘· |
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.