A True and Faithful Inventory of the Goods Belonging to Dr. Swift, Vicar of Laracor. Upon Lending His House to the Bishop of Meath, Until His Own Was Built
An oaken broken elbow-chair;A caudle cup without an ear;A batter'd, shatter'd ash bedstead;A box of deal, without a lid;A pair of tongs, but out of joint;A back-sword poker, without point;A pot that's crack'd across, around,With an old knotted garter bound;An iron lock, without a key;A wig, with hanging, grown quite grey;A curtain, worn to half a stripe;A pair of bellows, without pipe;A dish, which might good meat afford once;An Ovid, and an old Concordance;A bottle-bottom, wooden-platterOne is for meal, and one for water;There likewise is a copper skillet,Which runs as fast out as you fill it;A candlestick, snuff-dish, and save-all,And thus his household goods you have all.These, to your lordship, as a friend,'Till you have built, I freely lend:They'll serve your lordship for a shift;Why not as well as Doctor Swift?
Words in this poem
- oaken a.
- Made or consisting of oaks or of the wood of oaks. [AS. acen.]
- caudle n.
- A kind of warm drink for sick persons, being a mixture of wine with eggs, bread, sugar, and spices. [OF. caudel, F. chaudeau, dim. of LL calidum a sweet drink, fr. L. caidus warm. See Caldron.]
- garter n.
- A band used to prevent a stocking from slipping down on the leg. [OE. gartier, F. jarretière, fr. OF. garet bend of the knee, F. jarret; akin to Sp. garra claw, Prov. garra leg. See Garrote.]
- concordance n.
- Agreement; accordance. [F., fr. LL. concordantia.]
- skillet n.
- A small vessel of iron, copper, or other metal, with a handle, used for culinary purpose, as for stewing meat. [OF. escuelette, dim. of escuelle a porringer, F. ecuelle, fr. L. scutella, dim. of scutra, scuta, a dish. Cf. Scuttle a basket.]
- candlestick n.
- An instrument or utensil for supporting a candle. [AS. candel-sticca; candel candle + sticca stick.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A True and Faithful Inventory of the Goods Belonging to Dr. Swift, Vicar of Laracor. Upon Lending His House to the Bishop of Meath, Until His Own Was Built 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 True and Faithful Inventory of the Goods Belonging to Dr. Swift, Vicar of Laracor. Upon Lending His House to the Bishop of Meath, Until His Own Was Built, in Cadenus and Vanessa, and Other Poems (1710–1745), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13621, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems/a-true-and-faithful-inventory-of-the-goods-belonging-to-dr-swift-vicar-of-laracor-upon-lending-his-house-to-the-bishop-of-meath-until-his-own-was-built.html, id L26352.
Form and metre
A True and Faithful Inventory of the Goods Belonging to Dr. Swift, Vicar of Laracor. Upon Lending His House to the Bishop of Meath, Until His Own Was Built is 24 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 67% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
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 AA--BBCC--DD----EEFFGGHH chairA · earA · bedstead · lid · jointB · pointB · aroundC · boundC · key · grey · stripeD · pipeD · once · concordance · platter · water · skilletE · itE · allF · allF · friendG · lendG · shiftH · swiftH
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 |
|---|---|---|
| An oaken broken elbow-chair; | 8 | ·/˘/˘/·· |
| A caudle cup without an ear; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A batter'd, shatter'd ash bedstead; | 8 | ·/˘/˘·/˘ |
| A box of deal, without a lid; | 8 | ········ |
| A pair of tongs, but out of joint; | 8 | ········ |
| A back-sword poker, without point; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A pot that's crack'd across, around, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| With an old knotted garter bound; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| An iron lock, without a key; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A wig, with hanging, grown quite grey; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A curtain, worn to half a stripe; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A pair of bellows, without pipe; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A dish, which might good meat afford once; | 9 | ······˘/· |
| An Ovid, and an old Concordance; | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| A bottle-bottom, wooden-platter | 9 | ·/˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| One is for meal, and one for water; | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| There likewise is a copper skillet, | 9 | ·/···/˘/˘ |
| Which runs as fast out as you fill it; | 9 | ········· |
| A candlestick, snuff-dish, and save-all, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| And thus his household goods you have all. | 9 | ···/····· |
| These, to your lordship, as a friend, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| 'Till you have built, I freely lend: | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| They'll serve your lordship for a shift; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Why not as well as Doctor Swift? | 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.