A Wicked Treasonable Libel
While the king and his ministers keep such a pother,And all about changing one whore for another,Think I to myself, what need all this strife,His majesty first had a whore of a wife,And surely the difference mounts to no moreThan, now he has gotten a wife of a whore.Now give me your judgment a very nice case on;Each queen has a son, say which is the base one?Say which of the two is the right Prince of Wales,To succeed, when, (God bless him,) his majesty fails;Perhaps it may puzzle our loyal divinesTo unite these two Protestant parallel lines,From a left-handed wife, and one turn'd out of doors,Two reputed king's sons, both true sons of whores;No law can determine it, which is first oars.But, alas! poor old England, how wilt thou be master'd;For, take which you please, it must needs be a bastard.
Words in this poem
- pother n.
- Bustle; confusion; tumult; flutter; bother. [Cf. D. peuteren to rummage, poke. Cf. Potter, Pudder.]
- whore n.
- A woman who practices unlawful sexual commerce with men, especially one who prostitutes her body for hire; a prostitute; a harlot. Wyclif. [OE. hore, AS. h; akin to D. hoer, hoere, G. hure, OHG. huora, huorra, Icel. h, Dan. hore, Sw. hora, Goth. h an adulterer, AS. h adultery, OHG. huor, and probabl]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Wicked Treasonable Libel 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 Wicked Treasonable Libel, in Cadenus and Vanessa, and Other Poems (1710–1745), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13621, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems/a-wicked-treasonable-libel.html, id L09361.
Form and metre
A Wicked Treasonable Libel is 17 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 71% of the lines. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 87% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 11.2 syllables. 4 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 rhyming couplets, other poems in anapaestic 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 AABBCC--DDEEFFFGG potherA · anotherA · strifeB · wifeB · moreC · whoreC · on · one · walesD · failsD · divinesE · linesE · doorsF · whoresF · oarsF · master'dG · bastardG
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 anapaestic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| While the king and his ministers keep such a pother, | 13 | ·····/˘˘···/˘ |
| And all about changing one whore for another, | 12 | ····/˘···˘/˘ |
| Think I to myself, what need all this strife, | 10 | ····/····· |
| His majesty first had a whore of a wife, | 11 | ·/˘˘······· |
| And surely the difference mounts to no more | 11 | ·/˘·/˘˘···· |
| Than, now he has gotten a wife of a whore. | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| Now give me your judgment a very nice case on; | 12 | ····/˘·/˘··· |
| Each queen has a son, say which is the base one? | 11 | ··········· |
| Say which of the two is the right Prince of Wales, | 11 | ··········· |
| To succeed, when, (God bless him,) his majesty fails; | 12 | ·˘/·····/˘˘· |
| Perhaps it may puzzle our loyal divines | 12 | ˘/··/˘/˘/˘˘/ |
| To unite these two Protestant parallel lines, | 12 | ·/···/˘˘/˘·· |
| From a left-handed wife, and one turn'd out of doors, | 12 | ···/˘······· |
| Two reputed king's sons, both true sons of whores; | 11 | ·˘/˘······· |
| No law can determine it, which is first oars. | 11 | ···˘/˘····· |
| But, alas! poor old England, how wilt thou be master'd; | 13 | ·˘/··/˘····/˘ |
| For, take which you please, it must needs be a bastard. | 12 | ··········/˘ |
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.