The Place of the Damned 1731
All folks who pretend to religion and grace,Allow there's a HELL, but dispute of the place:But, if HELL may by logical rules be definedThe place of the damn'd--I'll tell you my mind.Wherever the damn'd do chiefly abound,Most certainly there is HELL to be found:Damn'd poets, damn'd critics, damn'd blockheads, damn'd knaves,Damn'd senators bribed, damn'd prostitute slaves;Damn'd lawyers and judges, damn'd lords and damn'd squires;Damn'd spies and informers, damn'd friends and damn'd liars;Damn'd villains, corrupted in every station;Damn'd time-serving priests all over the nation;And into the bargain I'll readily give youDamn'd ignorant prelates, and counsellors privy.Then let us no longer by parsons be flamm'd,For we know by these marks the place of the damn'd:And HELL to be sure is at Paris or Rome.How happy for us that it is not at home!
Words in this poem
- 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.]
- wherever adv.
- At or in whatever place; wheresoever.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Place of the Damned 1731 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 Place of the Damned 1731, in On Poetry: A Rhapsody, and Other Poems (1727), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #14353, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems-vol1/the-place-of-the-damned-1731.html, id L24554.
Form and metre
The Place of the Damned 1731 is 18 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 78% of the lines. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 81%).
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in anapaestic 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 AABBCCDDEEFF----GG graceA · placeA · definedB · mindB · aboundC · foundC · knavesD · slavesD · squiresE · liarsE · stationF · nationF · you · privy · flamm'd · damn'd · romeG · homeG
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 anapaestic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| All folks who pretend to religion and grace, | 11 | ···˘/·˘/˘·· |
| Allow there's a HELL, but dispute of the place: | 11 | ˘/····˘/··· |
| But, if HELL may by logical rules be defined | 11 | ·····/˘··˘/ |
| The place of the damn'd--I'll tell you my mind. | 10 | ·········· |
| Wherever the damn'd do chiefly abound, | 10 | ˘/˘···/˘˘/ |
| Most certainly there is HELL to be found: | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| Damn'd poets, damn'd critics, damn'd blockheads, damn'd knaves, | 11 | ·/˘·/˘·/··· |
| Damn'd senators bribed, damn'd prostitute slaves; | 11 | ·/˘˘·˘·/˘·· |
| Damn'd lawyers and judges, damn'd lords and damn'd squires; | 12 | ·/˘·/˘····/˘ |
| Damn'd spies and informers, damn'd friends and damn'd liars; | 12 | ···˘/˘····/˘ |
| Damn'd villains, corrupted in every station; | 12 | ·/˘˘/˘·/˘˘/˘ |
| Damn'd time-serving priests all over the nation; | 11 | ··/˘·····/˘ |
| And into the bargain I'll readily give you | 11 | ····/˘·/˘·· |
| Damn'd ignorant prelates, and counsellors privy. | 12 | ·/˘˘/˘·/˘˘/˘ |
| Then let us no longer by parsons be flamm'd, | 11 | ····/˘·/˘·· |
| For we know by these marks the place of the damn'd: | 11 | ··········· |
| And HELL to be sure is at Paris or Rome. | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| How happy for us that it is not at home! | 11 | ·/˘········ |
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.