A Prologue to a Play Performed at Mr. Sheridan's School. Spoken by One of the Scholars
AS in a silent night a lonely swain,'Tending his flocks on the Pharsalian plain,To Heaven around directs his wandering eyes,And every look finds out a new surprise;So great's our wonder, ladies, when we viewOur lower sphere made more serene by you.O! could such light in my dark bosom shine,What life, what vigour, should adorn each line!Beauty and virtue should be all my theme,And Venus brighten my poetic flame.The advent'rous painter's fate and mine are oneWho fain would draw the bright meridian sun;Majestic light his feeble art defies,And for presuming, robs him of his eyes.Then blame your power, that my inferior laysSink far below your too exalted praise:Don't think we flatter, your applause to gain;No, we're sincere,--to flatter you were vain.You spurn at fine encomiums misapplied,And all perfections but your beauties hide.Then as you're fair, we hope you will be kind,Nor frown on those you see so well inclinedTo please you most. Grant us your smiles, and thenThose sweet rewards will make us act like men.
Words in this poem
- vigour v. t.
- To invigorate. Feltham.
- brighten v. t.
- To make bright or brighter; to make to shine; to increase the luster of; to give a brighter hue to.
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- spurn v. t.
- To drive back or away, as with the foot; to kick. [OE. spurnen to kick against, to stumble over, AS. spurnan to kick, offend; akin to spura spur, OS. & OHG. spurnan to kick, Icel. spyrna, L. spernere to despise,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Prologue to a Play Performed at Mr. Sheridan's School. Spoken by One of the Scholars 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 Prologue to a Play Performed at Mr. Sheridan's School. Spoken by One of the Scholars, in Cadenus and Vanessa, and Other Poems (1710–1745), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13621, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems/a-prologue-to-a-play-performed-at-mr-sheridan-s-school-spoken-by-one-of-the-scholars.html, id L26348.
Form and metre
A Prologue to a Play Performed at Mr. Sheridan's School. Spoken by One of the Scholars is 24 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 87%).
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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKKLL swainA · plainA · eyesB · surpriseB · viewC · youC · shineD · lineD · themeE · flameE · oneF · sunF · defiesG · eyesG · laysH · praiseH · gainI · vainI · misappliedJ · hideJ · kindK · inclinedK · thenL · menL
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 |
|---|---|---|
| AS in a silent night a lonely swain, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| 'Tending his flocks on the Pharsalian plain, | 10 | /˘········ |
| To Heaven around directs his wandering eyes, | 10 | ·/··˘/·/˘· |
| And every look finds out a new surprise; | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| So great's our wonder, ladies, when we view | 10 | ··//˘/˘··· |
| Our lower sphere made more serene by you. | 10 | //˘···˘/·· |
| O! could such light in my dark bosom shine, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| What life, what vigour, should adorn each line! | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| Beauty and virtue should be all my theme, | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| And Venus brighten my poetic flame. | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| The advent'rous painter's fate and mine are one | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| Who fain would draw the bright meridian sun; | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Majestic light his feeble art defies, | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| And for presuming, robs him of his eyes. | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Then blame your power, that my inferior lays | 10 | ···/··˘/˘· |
| Sink far below your too exalted praise: | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Don't think we flatter, your applause to gain; | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| No, we're sincere,--to flatter you were vain. | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| You spurn at fine encomiums misapplied, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| And all perfections but your beauties hide. | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Then as you're fair, we hope you will be kind, | 10 | ·········· |
| Nor frown on those you see so well inclined | 10 | ········˘/ |
| To please you most. Grant us your smiles, and then | 10 | ·········· |
| Those sweet rewards will make us act like men. | 10 | ··˘/······ |
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.