Written at the Castle of Dublin, 1699
My Lord, to find out who must deal,Delivers cards about,But the first knave does seldom failTo find the doctor out.
But then his honour cried, Gadzooks!And seem'd to knit his brow:For on a knave he never looksBut he thinks upon Jack How.
My lady, though she is no player,Some bungling partner takes,And, wedged in corner of a chair,Takes snuff, and holds the stakes.
Dame Floyd looks out in grave suspenseFor pair royals and sequents;But, wisely cautious of her pence,The castle seldom frequents.
Quoth Herries, fairly putting cases,I'd won it, on my word,If I had but a pair of aces,And could pick up a third.
But Weston has a new-cast gownOn Sundays to be fine in,And, if she can but win a crown,'Twill just new dye the lining.
"With these is Parson Swift,Not knowing how to spend his time,Does make a wretched shift,To deafen them with puns and rhyme."
Words in this poem
- knave n.
- A boy; especially, a boy servant. Wyclif. [OE., boy, servant, knave, AS. cnafa boy, youth; cf. AS. cnapa boy, youth, D. kna, G. knabe boy, knappe esquire, Icel. knapi, Sw. knape esquire, knäfvel knave.]
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
- 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.]
- fairly adv.
- In a fairmanner; clearly; openly; plainly; fully; distinctly; frankly.
- deafen v. t.
- To make deaf; to deprive of the power of hearing; to render incapable of perceiving sounds distinctly. [From Deaf.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Written at the Castle of Dublin, 1699 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, Written at the Castle of Dublin, 1699, in On Poetry: A Rhapsody, and Other Poems (1727), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #14353, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems-vol1/written-at-the-castle-of-dublin-1699.html, id L24481.
Form and metre
Written at the Castle of Dublin, 1699 is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABAB, in 3 of the 7 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
See other poems in common measure.
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 -A-A deal · aboutA · fail · outA
- 2 ABAB gadzooksA · browB · looksA · howB
- 3 -A-A player · takesA · chair · stakesA
- 4 A-A- suspenseA · sequents · penceA · frequents
- 5 ABAB casesA · wordB · acesA · thirdB
- 6 AAA- gownA · inA · crownA · lining
- 7 ABAB swiftA · timeB · shiftA · rhymeB
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| My Lord, to find out who must deal, | 8 | ········ |
| Delivers cards about, | 6 | ˘/˘··· |
| But the first knave does seldom fail | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To find the doctor out. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| But then his honour cried, Gadzooks! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And seem'd to knit his brow: | 6 | ······ |
| For on a knave he never looks | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| But he thinks upon Jack How. | 7 | ······· |
| My lady, though she is no player, | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| Some bungling partner takes, | 7 | ·/˘˘/˘· |
| And, wedged in corner of a chair, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Takes snuff, and holds the stakes. | 6 | ······ |
| Dame Floyd looks out in grave suspense | 8 | ······˘/ |
| For pair royals and sequents; | 7 | ··/˘·/˘ |
| But, wisely cautious of her pence, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| The castle seldom frequents. | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| Quoth Herries, fairly putting cases, | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| I'd won it, on my word, | 6 | ······ |
| If I had but a pair of aces, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| And could pick up a third. | 6 | ······ |
| But Weston has a new-cast gown | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| On Sundays to be fine in, | 7 | ·/····· |
| And, if she can but win a crown, | 8 | ········ |
| 'Twill just new dye the lining. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| "With these is Parson Swift, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Not knowing how to spend his time, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Does make a wretched shift, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| To deafen them with puns and rhyme." | 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.