A Maypole. 1725
Deprived of root, and branch and rind,Yet flowers I bear of every kind:And such is my prolific power,They bloom in less than half an hour;Yet standers-by may plainly seeThey get no nourishment from me.My head with giddiness goes round,And yet I firmly stand my ground:All over naked I am seen,And painted like an Indian queen.No couple-beggar in the landE'er join'd such numbers hand in hand.I join'd them fairly with a ring;Nor can our parson blame the thing.And though no marriage words are spoke,They part not till the ring is broke;Yet hypocrite fanatics cry,I'm but an idol raised on high;And once a weaver in our town,A damn'd Cromwellian, knock'd me down.I lay a prisoner twenty years,And then the jovial cavaliersTo their old post restored all three--I mean the church, the king, and me.
Words in this poem
- giddiness n.
- The quality or state of being giddy.
- fairly adv.
- In a fairmanner; clearly; openly; plainly; fully; distinctly; frankly.
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- idol n.
- An image or representation of anything. [OE. idole, F. idole, L. idolum, fr. Gr. Wit, and cf. Eidolon.]
- jovial a.
- Of or pertaining to the god, or the planet, Jupiter. [F., fr. L. Jovialis pertaining to Jove. The planet Jupiter was thought to make those born under it joyful or jovial. See Jove.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Maypole. 1725 is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Volume 2, Project Gutenberg ebook #13621; 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, A Maypole. 1725, in Cadenus and Vanessa, and Other Poems (1710–1745), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13621, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems/a-maypole-1725.html, id L09258.
Form and metre
A Maypole. 1725 is 24 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 12% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKKCC rindA · kindA · powerB · hourB · seeC · meC · roundD · groundD · seenE · queenE · landF · handF · ringG · thingG · spokeH · brokeH · cryI · highI · townJ · downJ · yearsK · cavaliersK · threeC · meC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Deprived of root, and branch and rind, | 8 | ˘/······ |
| Yet flowers I bear of every kind: | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| And such is my prolific power, | 9 | ····˘/˘/˘ |
| They bloom in less than half an hour; | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Yet standers-by may plainly see | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| They get no nourishment from me. | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| My head with giddiness goes round, | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| And yet I firmly stand my ground: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| All over naked I am seen, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And painted like an Indian queen. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| No couple-beggar in the land | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| E'er join'd such numbers hand in hand. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I join'd them fairly with a ring; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Nor can our parson blame the thing. | 8 | ··//˘··· |
| And though no marriage words are spoke, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| They part not till the ring is broke; | 8 | ········ |
| Yet hypocrite fanatics cry, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| I'm but an idol raised on high; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And once a weaver in our town, | 8 | ···/˘·/· |
| A damn'd Cromwellian, knock'd me down. | 8 | ········ |
| I lay a prisoner twenty years, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And then the jovial cavaliers | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| To their old post restored all three-- | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| I mean the church, the king, and me. | 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.