An Invitation to Dinner, from Doctor Sheridan to Doctor Swift. 1727
I've sent to the ladies this morning to warn 'em,To order their chaise, and repair to Rathfarnam;Where you shall be welcome to dine, if your deanshipCan take up with me, and my friend Stella's leanship.I've got you some soles, and a fresh bleeding bret,That's just disengaged from the toils of a net:An excellent loin of fat veal to be roasted,With lemons, and butter, and sippets well toasted:Some larks that descended, mistaking the skies,Which Stella brought down by the light of her eyes;And there, like Narcissus, they gazed till they died,And now they're to lie in some crumbs that are fried.My wine will inspire you with joy and delight,'Tis mellow, and old, and sparkling, and bright;An emblem of one that you love, I suppose,Who gathers more lovers the older she grows.Let me be your Gay, and let Stella be Pope,We'll wean you from sighing for England I hope;When we are together there's nothing that is dull,There's nothing like Durfey, or Smedley, or Tisdall.We've sworn to make out an agreeable feast,Our dinner, our wine, and our wit to your taste.
Words in this poem
- chaise n.
- A two-wheeled carriage for two persons, with a calash top, and the body hung on leather straps, or thoroughbraces. It is usually drawn by one horse. [F. chaise seat, or chair, chaise or carriage, for chaire, from a peculiar Parisian pronunciation. See Chair.]
- 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,]
- dine v. i.
- To eat the principal regular meal of the day; to take dinner. [F. dîner, OF. disner, LL. disnare, contr. fr. an assumed disjunare; dis- + an assumed junare (OF. juner) to fast, for L. jejunare, fr. jejunus fasting. See Jeju]
- deanship n.
- The office of a dean.
- disengaged a.
- Not engaged; free from engagement; at leisure; free from occupation or care; vacant.
- mistaking n.
- An error; a mistake.
- narcissus n.
- A genus of endogenous bulbous plants with handsome flowers, having a cup-shaped crown within the six-lobed perianth, and comprising the daffodils and jonquils of several kinds. [L. narcissus, and (personified) Narcissus, Gr. na`rkissos, Na`rkissos, fr. na`rkh torpor, in allusion to the narcotic properties of the flower. Cf. Narcotic.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
An Invitation to Dinner, from Doctor Sheridan to Doctor Swift. 1727 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 Invitation to Dinner, from Doctor Sheridan to Doctor Swift. 1727, in Cadenus and Vanessa, and Other Poems (1710–1745), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13621, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems/an-invitation-to-dinner-from-doctor-sheridan-to-doctor-swift-1727.html, id L26350.
Form and metre
An Invitation to Dinner, from Doctor Sheridan to Doctor Swift. 1727 is 22 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKK emA · rathfarnamA · deanshipB · leanshipB · bretC · netC · roastedD · toastedD · skiesE · eyesE · diedF · friedF · delightG · brightG · supposeH · growsH · popeI · hopeI · dullJ · tisdallJ · feastK · tasteK
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I've sent to the ladies this morning to warn 'em, | 12 | ····/˘·/˘··· |
| To order their chaise, and repair to Rathfarnam; | 12 | ·/˘···˘/···· |
| Where you shall be welcome to dine, if your deanship | 12 | ····/˘····/˘ |
| Can take up with me, and my friend Stella's leanship. | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| I've got you some soles, and a fresh bleeding bret, | 11 | ········/˘· |
| That's just disengaged from the toils of a net: | 11 | ··˘˘/······ |
| An excellent loin of fat veal to be roasted, | 12 | ·/˘˘······/˘ |
| With lemons, and butter, and sippets well toasted: | 12 | ·/˘·/˘····/˘ |
| Some larks that descended, mistaking the skies, | 11 | ···˘/˘˘/˘·· |
| Which Stella brought down by the light of her eyes; | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| And there, like Narcissus, they gazed till they died, | 11 | ···˘/˘····· |
| And now they're to lie in some crumbs that are fried. | 11 | ··········· |
| My wine will inspire you with joy and delight, | 11 | ···˘/····˘/ |
| 'Tis mellow, and old, and sparkling, and bright; | 10 | ·/˘···/˘·· |
| An emblem of one that you love, I suppose, | 11 | ·/˘······˘/ |
| Who gathers more lovers the older she grows. | 11 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| Let me be your Gay, and let Stella be Pope, | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| We'll wean you from sighing for England I hope; | 11 | ····/˘·/˘·· |
| When we are together there's nothing that is dull, | 12 | ···˘/˘·/˘··· |
| There's nothing like Durfey, or Smedley, or Tisdall. | 12 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘··· |
| We've sworn to make out an agreeable feast, | 11 | ······˘/˘˘· |
| Our dinner, our wine, and our wit to your taste. | 11 | //˘/··/···· |
Notes from the edition 4
The notes to the Poems of Jonathan Swift, Volume II (Project Gutenberg #13621).
- Line 2 A village near Dublin, where Dr. Sheridan had a country house.
- Line 4 Stella was at this time in a very declining state of health. She died the January following.--F.
- Line 11 The youth who died for love of his own image reflected in a fountain, and was changed into a flower of the same name. Ovid, "Metam.," iii, 407.--W. E. B.
- Line 16 He means Stella, who was certainly one of the most amiable women in the world.--F.
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.