(To Swift's Verses on Biddy Floyd); Or, Mrs. Cludd
Venus one day, as story goes,But for what reason no man knows,In sullen mood and grave deport,Trudged it away to Jove's high court;And there his Godship did entreatTo look out for his best receipt:And make a monster strange and odd,Abhorr'd by man and every god.Jove, ever kind to all the fair,Nor e'er refused a lady's prayer,Straight oped 'scrutoire, and forth he tookA neatly bound and well-gilt book;Sure sign that nothing enter'd there,But what was very choice and rare.Scarce had he turn'd a page or two,--It might be more, for aught I knew;But, be the matter more or less,'Mong friends 'twill break no squares, I guess.Then, smiling, to the dame quoth he,Here's one will fit you to a T.But, as the writing doth prescribe,'Tis fit the ingredients we provide.Away he went, and search'd the stews,And every street about the Mews;Diseases, impudence, and lies,Are found and brought him in a trice.From Hackney then he did provide,A clumsy air and awkward pride;From lady's toilet next he broughtNoise, scandal, and malicious thought.These Jove put in an old close-stool,And with them mix'd the vain, the fool.But now came on his greatest care,Of what he should his paste prepare;For common clay or finer mouldWas much too good, such stuff to hold.At last he wisely thought on mud;So raised it up, and call'd it--Cludd.With this, the lady well content,Low curtsey'd, and away she went.
Words in this poem 16
- sullen a.
- Lonely; solitary; desolate. Wyclif (Job iii. 14). [OE. solein, solain, lonely, sullen; through Old French fr. (assumed) LL. solanus solitary, fr. L. solus alone. See Sole, a.]
- deport n.
- Behavior; carrige; demeanor; deportment.
- godship n.
- The rank or character of a god; deity; divinity; a god or goddess. [God, n. + -ship.]
- entreat v. t.
- To treat, or conduct toward; to deal with; to use. [OE. entreten to treat, request, OF. entraiter to treat of; pref. en- (L. in) + traitier to treat. See Treat.]
- 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.]
- 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]
- aught n.
- Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
- dame n.
- A mistress of a family, who is a lady; a womam in authority; especially, a lady. [F. dame, LL. domna, fr. L. domina mistress, lady, fem. of dominus master, ruler, lord; akin to domare to tame, subdue. See Tame, and cf. Dam mother, Dan, Danger]
- quoth v. t.
- Said; spoke; uttered; -- used only in the first and third persons in the past tenses, and always followed by its nominative, the word or words said being the object; as, quoth I. quoth he. [AS.cweedhan, imp cwæedh, pl. cwædon; akin to OS. queedhan, OHG. quethan, quedan, Icel. kveedha, Goth. qiþan. sq. root22. Cf. Bequeath.]
- prescribe v. t.
- To lay down authoritatively as a guide, direction, or rule of action; to impose as a peremptory order; to dictate; to appoint; to direct. [L. praescribere, praescriptum; prae before + scriebe to write. See Scribe.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- mews n.
- An alley where there are stables; a narrow passage; a confined place. [Eng.] [Prop. pl. of mew. See Mew a cage.]
- trice v. t.
- To pull; to haul; to drag; to pull away. [OE. trisen; of Scand. or Low German origin; cf. Sw. trissa a sheave, pulley, triss a spritsail brace, Dan. tridse a pulley, tridse to haul by means of a pulley,]
- clumsy a.
- Stiff or benumbed, as with cold. [OE. clumsed benumbed, fr. clumsen to be benumbed; cf. Icel. klumsa lockjaw, dial. Sw. klummsen benumbed with cold. Cf. 1st Clam, and 1st Clamp.]
- scandal n.
- Offense caused or experienced; reproach or reprobation called forth by what is regarded as wrong, criminal, heinous, or flagrant: opprobrium or disgrace. [F. scandale, fr. L. scandalum, Gr. scandle, OF. escandle. See Slander.]
- mould n.
- Crumbling, soft, friable earth; esp., earth containing the remains or constituents of organic matter, and suited to the growth of plants; soil. [OE. molde, AS. molde; akin to D. mul, G. mull, mulm, OHG. molt, molta, Icel. mold, Dan. muld, Sw. mull, Goth. mulda, and E. meal flour. See Meal, and cf. Mole a]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
(To Swift's Verses on Biddy Floyd); Or, Mrs. Cludd 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, (To Swift's Verses on Biddy Floyd); Or, Mrs. Cludd, in On Poetry: A Rhapsody, and Other Poems (1727), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #14353, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems-vol1/to-swift-s-verses-on-biddy-floyd-or-mrs-cludd.html, id L24489.
Form and metre
(To Swift's Verses on Biddy Floyd); Or, Mrs. Cludd is 40 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 90% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
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 AABBCCDDEEFFEEGGHHII--JJ--KKLLMMNNOOPPQQ goesA · knowsA · deportB · courtB · entreatC · receiptC · oddD · godD · fairE · prayerE · tookF · bookF · thereE · rareE · twoG · knewG · lessH · guessH · heI · tI · prescribe · provide · stewsJ · mewsJ · lies · trice · provideK · prideK · broughtL · thoughtL · stoolM · foolM · careN · prepareN · mouldO · holdO · mudP · cluddP · contentQ · wentQ
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Venus one day, as story goes, | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| But for what reason no man knows, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| In sullen mood and grave deport, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Trudged it away to Jove's high court; | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| And there his Godship did entreat | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| To look out for his best receipt: | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And make a monster strange and odd, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Abhorr'd by man and every god. | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| Jove, ever kind to all the fair, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Nor e'er refused a lady's prayer, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Straight oped 'scrutoire, and forth he took | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| A neatly bound and well-gilt book; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Sure sign that nothing enter'd there, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| But what was very choice and rare. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Scarce had he turn'd a page or two,-- | 8 | ········ |
| It might be more, for aught I knew; | 8 | ········ |
| But, be the matter more or less, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| 'Mong friends 'twill break no squares, I guess. | 8 | ········ |
| Then, smiling, to the dame quoth he, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Here's one will fit you to a T. | 8 | ········ |
| But, as the writing doth prescribe, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| 'Tis fit the ingredients we provide. | 9 | ···˘/˘·˘/ |
| Away he went, and search'd the stews, | 8 | ˘/······ |
| And every street about the Mews; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Diseases, impudence, and lies, | 8 | ˘/˘/˘˘·· |
| Are found and brought him in a trice. | 8 | ········ |
| From Hackney then he did provide, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| A clumsy air and awkward pride; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| From lady's toilet next he brought | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Noise, scandal, and malicious thought. | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| These Jove put in an old close-stool, | 8 | ········ |
| And with them mix'd the vain, the fool. | 8 | ········ |
| But now came on his greatest care, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Of what he should his paste prepare; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| For common clay or finer mould | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Was much too good, such stuff to hold. | 8 | ········ |
| At last he wisely thought on mud; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| So raised it up, and call'd it--Cludd. | 8 | ········ |
| With this, the lady well content, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Low curtsey'd, and away she went. | 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.