Written by Dr. Swift on His Own Deafness, in September, 1734
Vertiginosus, inops, surdus, male gratus amicis;Non campana sonans, tonitru non ab Jove missum,Quod mage mirandum, saltem si credere fas est,Non clamosa meas mulier jam percutit aures.
Words in this poem
- 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.]
- quod v.
- Quoth; said. See Quoth.
- mage n.
- A magician. Spenser. [F. mage. See Magi.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Written by Dr. Swift on His Own Deafness, in September, 1734 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 by Dr. Swift on His Own Deafness, in September, 1734, in On Poetry: A Rhapsody, and Other Poems (1727), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #14353, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems-vol1/written-by-dr-swift-on-his-own-deafness-in-september-1734.html, id L24574.
Form and metre
Written by Dr. Swift on His Own Deafness, in September, 1734 is 4 lines in a single stanza. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter.
See 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.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Vertiginosus, inops, surdus, male gratus amicis; | 15 | ··············· |
| Non campana sonans, tonitru non ab Jove missum, | 14 | ·˘/˘·········· |
| Quod mage mirandum, saltem si credere fas est, | 13 | ···········˘/ |
| Non clamosa meas mulier jam percutit aures. | 13 | ·····/˘˘····/ |
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.