The Dean and Duke 1734
James Brydgesand the Dean had long been friends;James is beduked; of course their friendship ends:But sure the Dean deserves a sharp rebuke,For knowing James, to boast he knows the duke.Yet, since just Heaven the duke's ambition mocks,Since all he got by fraud is lost by stocks,His wings are clipp'd: he tries no more in vainWith bands of fiddlers to extend his train.Since he no more can build, and plant, and revel,The duke and dean seem near upon a level.O! wert thou not a duke, my good Duke Humphry,From bailiffs claws thou scarce couldst keep thy bum free.A duke to know a dean! go, smooth thy crown:Thy brother(far thy better) wore a gown.Well, but a duke thou art; so please the king:O! would his majesty but add a string!
Words in this poem
- duke n.
- A leader; a chief; a prince. [F. duc, fr. L. dux, ducis, leader, commander, fr. ducere to lead; akin to AS. teón to draw; cf. AS. heretoga (here army) an army leader, general, G. herzog duke]
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Dean and Duke 1734 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, The Dean and Duke 1734, in On Poetry: A Rhapsody, and Other Poems (1727), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #14353, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems-vol1/the-dean-and-duke-1734.html, id L24573.
Form and metre
The Dean and Duke 1734 is 16 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 88% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
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 AABBCCDDEE--FFGG friendsA · endsA · rebukeB · dukeB · mocksC · stocksC · vainD · trainD · revelE · levelE · humphry · free · crownF · gownF · kingG · stringG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| James Brydgesand the Dean had long been friends; | 10 | ·········· |
| James is beduked; of course their friendship ends: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| But sure the Dean deserves a sharp rebuke, | 10 | ····˘/··˘/ |
| For knowing James, to boast he knows the duke. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Yet, since just Heaven the duke's ambition mocks, | 10 | ···/··˘/˘· |
| Since all he got by fraud is lost by stocks, | 10 | ·········· |
| His wings are clipp'd: he tries no more in vain | 10 | ·········· |
| With bands of fiddlers to extend his train. | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| Since he no more can build, and plant, and revel, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| The duke and dean seem near upon a level. | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| O! wert thou not a duke, my good Duke Humphry, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| From bailiffs claws thou scarce couldst keep thy bum free. | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| A duke to know a dean! go, smooth thy crown: | 10 | ·········· |
| Thy brother(far thy better) wore a gown. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Well, but a duke thou art; so please the king: | 10 | ·········· |
| O! would his majesty but add a string! | 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.