An Excellent New Song on a Seditious Pamphlet. 1720-21
Brocades, and damasks, and tabbies, and gauzes,Are, by Robert Ballantine, lately brought over,With forty things more: now hear what the law says,Whoe'er will not wear them is not the king's lover.Though a printer and Dean,Seditiously mean,Our true Irish hearts from Old England to wean,We'll buy English silks for our wives and our daughters,In spite of his deanship and journeyman Waters.
In England the dead in woollen are clad,The Dean and his printer then let us cry fie on;To be clothed like a carcass would make a Teague mad,Since a living dog better is than a dead lion.Our wives they grow sullenAt wearing of woollen,And all we poor shopkeepers must our horns pull in.Then we'll buy English silks for our wives and our daughters,In spite of his deanship and journeyman Waters.
Whoever our trading with England would hinder,To inflame both the nations do plainly conspire,Because Irish linen will soon turn to tinder,And wool it is greasy, and quickly takes fire.Therefore, I assure ye,Our noble grand jury,When they saw the Dean's book, they were in a great fury;They would buy English silks for their wives and their daughters,In spite of his deanship and journeyman Waters.
This wicked rogue Waters, who always is sinning,And before coram nobis so oft has been call'd,Henceforward shall print neither pamphlets nor linen,And if swearing can do't shall be swingingly maul'd:And as for the Dean,You know whom I mean,If the printer will peach him, he'll scarce come off clean.Then we'll buy English silks for our wives and our daughters,In spite of his deanship and journeyman Waters.
Words in this poem
- deanship n.
- The office of a dean.
- journeyman n.
- Formerly, a man hired to work by the day; now, commonly, one who has mastered a handicraft or trade; -- distinguished from apprentice and from master workman.
- clad v.
- To clothe. Holland.
- carcass n.
- A dead body, whether of man or beast; a corpse; now commonly the dead body of a beast. [F. carcasse, fr. It. carcassa, fr. L. caro flesh + capsa chest, box, case. Cf. Carnal, Case a sheath.]
- teague n.
- An Irishman; -- a term used in contempt. Johnson. [Cf. W. taeog, taeawg, adj., rustic, rude, n., a vassal, villain, pleasant, clown, Ir. th rural, boorish.]
- sullen a.
- Lonely; solitary; desolate. Wyclif (Job iii. 14). [OE. solein, solain, lonely, sullen; through Old French fr. (assumed) LL. solanus solitary, fr. L. solus alone. See Sole, a.]
- whoever pron.
- Whatever person; any person who; be or she who; any one who; as, he shall be punished, whoever he may be.
- henceforward adv.
- From this time forward; henceforth.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
An Excellent New Song on a Seditious Pamphlet. 1720-21 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, An Excellent New Song on a Seditious Pamphlet. 1720-21, in Poems, Volume II (1710–1745), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13621, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems/an-excellent-new-song-on-a-seditious-pamphlet-1720-21.html, id L09320.
Form and metre
An Excellent New Song on a Seditious Pamphlet. 1720-21 is 36 lines in 4 stanzas of 9 lines each. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 76%). 79% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.6 syllables. 18 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
See 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 A-A-BBBCC gauzesA · over · saysA · lover · deanB · meanB · weanB · daughtersC · watersC
- 2 ABABBB-CC cladA · onB · madA · lionB · sullenB · woollenB · in · daughtersC · watersC
- 3 ABAB-CCDD hinderA · conspireB · tinderA · fireB · ye · juryC · furyC · daughtersD · watersD
- 4 -ABABBBCC sinning · call'dA · linenB · maul'dA · deanB · meanB · cleanB · daughtersC · watersC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Brocades, and damasks, and tabbies, and gauzes, | 11 | ˘/·/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| Are, by Robert Ballantine, lately brought over, | 11 | ··/˘/˘·/˘·· |
| With forty things more: now hear what the law says, | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| Whoe'er will not wear them is not the king's lover. | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Though a printer and Dean, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Seditiously mean, | 5 | ····· |
| Our true Irish hearts from Old England to wean, | 11 | /·/˘···/˘·· |
| We'll buy English silks for our wives and our daughters, | 12 | ··/˘··/··//˘ |
| In spite of his deanship and journeyman Waters. | 12 | ····/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| In England the dead in woollen are clad, | 10 | ·/˘···/˘·· |
| The Dean and his printer then let us cry fie on; | 12 | ····/˘······ |
| To be clothed like a carcass would make a Teague mad, | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| Since a living dog better is than a dead lion. | 12 | ··/˘·/˘····/ |
| Our wives they grow sullen | 7 | /˘···/˘ |
| At wearing of woollen, | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| And all we poor shopkeepers must our horns pull in. | 12 | ····/·˘·/··· |
| Then we'll buy English silks for our wives and our daughters, | 13 | ···/˘··/··//˘ |
| In spite of his deanship and journeyman Waters. | 12 | ····/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| Whoever our trading with England would hinder, | 12 | ˘/˘//˘·/˘·/˘ |
| To inflame both the nations do plainly conspire, | 12 | ·˘/··/˘·/˘˘/ |
| Because Irish linen will soon turn to tinder, | 12 | ··/˘/˘····/˘ |
| And wool it is greasy, and quickly takes fire. | 11 | ····/˘·/˘·/ |
| Therefore, I assure ye, | 6 | ···˘/· |
| Our noble grand jury, | 7 | /˘/˘·/˘ |
| When they saw the Dean's book, they were in a great fury; | 13 | ···········/˘ |
| They would buy English silks for their wives and their daughters, | 13 | ···/˘······/˘ |
| In spite of his deanship and journeyman Waters. | 12 | ····/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| This wicked rogue Waters, who always is sinning, | 12 | ·/˘·/˘·/··/˘ |
| And before coram nobis so oft has been call'd, | 12 | ···/·/˘····· |
| Henceforward shall print neither pamphlets nor linen, | 13 | ······/˘/˘·/˘ |
| And if swearing can do't shall be swingingly maul'd: | 12 | ··/˘········ |
| And as for the Dean, | 5 | ····· |
| You know whom I mean, | 5 | ····· |
| If the printer will peach him, he'll scarce come off clean. | 12 | ··/˘········ |
| Then we'll buy English silks for our wives and our daughters, | 13 | ···/˘··/··//˘ |
| In spite of his deanship and journeyman Waters. | 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.