Verses Sent to the Dean with an Eagle Quill, on Hearing of the Presents by the Earl of Orrery and Dr. Delany. By Mrs. Pilkington
Shall then my kindred all my glory claim,And boldly rob me of eternal fame?To every art my gen'rous aid I lend,To music, painting, poetry, a friend.'Tis I celestial harmony inspire,When fix'd to strike the sweetly warbling wire.I to the faithful canvas have consign'dEach bright idea of the painter's mind;Behold from Raphael's sky-dipt pencils riseSuch heavenly scenes as charm the gazer's eyes.O let me now aspire to higher praise!Ambitious to transcribe your deathless lays:Nor thou, immortal bard, my aid refuse,Accept me as the servant of your Muse;Then shall the world my wondrous worth declare,And all mankind your matchless pen revere.
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- boldly adv.
- In a bold manner. [AS. bealdlice.]
- aspire v. t.
- To aspire to; to long for; to try to reach; to mount to.
- transcribe v. t.
- To write over again, or in the same words; to copy; as, to transcribe Livy or Tacitus; to transcribe a letter. [L. transcribere, transcriptum; trans across, over + scribere to write. See Scribe.]
- deathless a.
- Not subject to death, destruction, or extinction; immortal; undying; imperishable; as, deathless beings; deathless fame.
- wondrous adv.
- In a wonderful or surprising manner or degree; wonderfully. [OE. wonders, adv. (later also adj.). See Wonder, n., and cf. -wards.]
- revere v. t.
- To regard with reverence, or profound respect and affection, mingled with awe or fear; to venerate; to reverence; to honor in estimation. [L. revereri; pref. re- re- + vereri to fear, perh. akin to E. wary: cf. F. révérer.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Verses Sent to the Dean with an Eagle Quill, on Hearing of the Presents by the Earl of Orrery and Dr. Delany. By Mrs. Pilkington 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, Verses Sent to the Dean with an Eagle Quill, on Hearing of the Presents by the Earl of Orrery and Dr. Delany. By Mrs. Pilkington, in On Poetry: A Rhapsody, and Other Poems (1727), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #14353, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems-vol1/verses-sent-to-the-dean-with-an-eagle-quill-on-hearing-of-the-presents-by-the-earl-of-orrery-and-dr-delany-by-mrs-pilkington.html, id L25624.
Form and metre
Verses Sent to the Dean with an Eagle Quill, on Hearing of the Presents by the Earl of Orrery and Dr. Delany. By Mrs. Pilkington is 16 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHH claimA · fameA · lendB · friendB · inspireC · wireC · consign'dD · mindD · riseE · eyesE · praiseF · laysF · refuseG · museG · declareH · revereH
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Shall then my kindred all my glory claim, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And boldly rob me of eternal fame? | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| To every art my gen'rous aid I lend, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| To music, painting, poetry, a friend. | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘˘·· |
| 'Tis I celestial harmony inspire, | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘˘˘/ |
| When fix'd to strike the sweetly warbling wire. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘/ |
| I to the faithful canvas have consign'd | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Each bright idea of the painter's mind; | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Behold from Raphael's sky-dipt pencils rise | 11 | ˘/··˘/··/˘· |
| Such heavenly scenes as charm the gazer's eyes. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| O let me now aspire to higher praise! | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| Ambitious to transcribe your deathless lays: | 10 | ˘/˘·˘/·/˘· |
| Nor thou, immortal bard, my aid refuse, | 10 | ··˘/˘···˘/ |
| Accept me as the servant of your Muse; | 10 | ˘/···/˘··· |
| Then shall the world my wondrous worth declare, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| And all mankind your matchless pen revere. | 10 | ··//·/˘·˘/ |
Notes from the edition 1
The notes to the Poems of Jonathan Swift, Volume I, ed. W. E. Browning (Project Gutenberg #14353, 1910).
- Line 6 Quills of the harpsichord.
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.