Verses Written on a Window, at the Deanery House, St. Patrick's
Are the guests of this house still doom'd to be cheated?Sure the Fates have decreed they by halves should be treated.In the days of good John if you came here to dine,You had choice of good meat, but no choice of good wine.In Jonathan's reign, if you come here to eat,You have choice of good wine, but no choice of good meat.O Jove! then how fully might all sides be blest,Wouldst thou but agree to this humble request!Put both deans in one; or, if that's too much trouble,Instead of the deans, make the deanery double.
Words in this poem
- dine v. i.
- To eat the principal regular meal of the day; to take dinner. [F. dîner, OF. disner, LL. disnare, contr. fr. an assumed disjunare; dis- + an assumed junare (OF. juner) to fast, for L. jejunare, fr. jejunus fasting. See Jeju]
- 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.]
- deanery n.
- The office or the revenue of a dean. See the Note under Benefice, n., 3.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Verses Written on a Window, at the Deanery House, St. Patrick's 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 Written on a Window, at the Deanery House, St. Patrick's, in On Poetry: A Rhapsody, and Other Poems (1727), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #14353, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems-vol1/verses-written-on-a-window-at-the-deanery-house-st-patrick-s.html, id L24507.
Form and metre
Verses Written on a Window, at the Deanery House, St. Patrick's is 10 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
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 AABBCCDDEE cheatedA · treatedA · dineB · wineB · eatC · meatC · blestD · requestD · troubleE · doubleE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Are the guests of this house still doom'd to be cheated? | 12 | ··········/˘ |
| Sure the Fates have decreed they by halves should be treated. | 13 | ····˘/·····/˘ |
| In the days of good John if you came here to dine, | 12 | ············ |
| You had choice of good meat, but no choice of good wine. | 12 | ············ |
| In Jonathan's reign, if you come here to eat, | 11 | ·/˘˘······· |
| You have choice of good wine, but no choice of good meat. | 12 | ············ |
| O Jove! then how fully might all sides be blest, | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| Wouldst thou but agree to this humble request! | 11 | ···˘/··/˘˘/ |
| Put both deans in one; or, if that's too much trouble, | 12 | ··········/˘ |
| Instead of the deans, make the deanery double. | 12 | ˘/·····/˘˘/˘ |
Notes from the edition 1
The notes to the Poems of Jonathan Swift, Volume I, ed. W. E. Browning (Project Gutenberg #14353, 1910).
- Line 3 Dr. Sterne, the predecessor of Swift in the deanery of St. Patrick's, and afterwards Bishop of Clogher, was distinguished for his hospitality. See Journal to Stella, passim, "Prose Works," vol. ii--W. E. B.
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