Answer. By Dr. Swift
Dare you dispute, you saucy brute,And think there's no refellingYour scurvy lays, and senseless praiseYou give to Ballyspellin?
Howe'er you flounce, I here pronounce,Your medicine is repelling;Your water's mud, and sours the bloodWhen drunk at Ballyspellin.
Those pocky drabs, to cure their scabs,You thither are compelling,Will back be sent worse than they went,From nasty Ballyspellin.
Llewellyn why? As well may IName honest Doctor Pellin;So hard sometimes you tug for rhymes,To bring in Ballyspellin.
No subject fit to try your wit,When you went colonelling:But dull intrigues 'twixt jades and teagues,You met at Ballyspellin.
Our lasses fair, say what you dare,Who sowins make with shelling,At Market-hill more beaux can kill,Than yours at Ballyspellin.
Would I was whipt, when Sheelah stript,To wash herself our well in,A bum so white ne'er came in sightAt paltry Ballyspellin.
Your mawkins there smocks hempen wear;Of Holland not an ell in,No, not a rag, whate'er your brag,Is found at Ballyspellin.
But Tom will prate at any rate,All other nymphs expelling:Because he gets a few grisettesAt lousy Ballyspellin.
There's bonny Jane, in yonder lane,Just o'er against the Bell inn;Where can you meet a lass so sweet,Round all your Ballyspellin?
We have a girl deserves an earl;She came from Enniskellin;So fair, so young, no such amongThe belles of Ballyspellin.
How would you stare, to see her there,The foggy mists dispelling,That cloud the brows of every blowseWho lives at Ballyspellin!
Now, as I live, I would not giveA stiver or a skellin,To towse and kiss the fairest missThat leaks at Ballyspellin.
Whoe'er will raise such lies as theseDeserves a good cudgelling:Who falsely boasts of belles and toastsAt dirty Ballyspellin.
My rhymes are gone to all but one,Which is, our trees are felling;As proper quite as those you write,To force in Ballyspellin.
Words in this poem
- sours n.
- Source. See Source.
- pocky a.
- Full of pocks; affected with smallpox or other eruptive disease. Bp. Hall.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- shelling n.
- Groats; hulled oats. Simmonds.
- hempen a.
- Made of hemp; as, a hempen cord.
- bonny a.
- Handsome; beautiful; pretty; attractively lively and graceful. [OE. boni, prob. fr. F. bon, fem. bonne, good, fr. L. bonus good. See Bounty, and cf. Bonus, Boon.]
- jane n.
- A coin of Genoa; any small coin. [LL. Janua Genoa; L. Genua, also OE. Jean.]
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
- lass n.
- A youth woman; a girl; a sweetheart. [OE. lasse; prob. of Celtic origin; cf. W. llodes girl, fem. of llawd lad. (Lad a youth.]
- stiver n.
- A Dutch coin, and money of account, of the value of two cents, or about one penny sterling; hence, figuratively, anything of little worth. [D. stuiver; akin to G. stüber, Dan. styver, Sw. styfver.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Answer. By Dr. Swift 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, Answer. By Dr. Swift, in Cadenus and Vanessa, and Other Poems (1710–1745), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13621, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems/answer-by-dr-swift.html, id L25703.
Form and metre
Answer. By Dr. Swift is 60 lines in 15 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
See 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.
- 4 -A-A i · pellinA · rhymes · ballyspellinA
- 11 -A-A earl · enniskellinA · among · ballyspellinA
- 13 -A-A give · skellinA · miss · ballyspellinA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Dare you dispute, you saucy brute, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| And think there's no refelling | 7 | ······· |
| Your scurvy lays, and senseless praise | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| You give to Ballyspellin? | 7 | ······· |
| Howe'er you flounce, I here pronounce, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Your medicine is repelling; | 8 | ·/˘˘·˘/˘ |
| Your water's mud, and sours the blood | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| When drunk at Ballyspellin. | 7 | ······· |
| Those pocky drabs, to cure their scabs, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| You thither are compelling, | 7 | ·/˘·˘/˘ |
| Will back be sent worse than they went, | 8 | ········ |
| From nasty Ballyspellin. | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Llewellyn why? As well may I | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Name honest Doctor Pellin; | 7 | ·/˘/˘·· |
| So hard sometimes you tug for rhymes, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| To bring in Ballyspellin. | 7 | ······· |
| No subject fit to try your wit, | 8 | ·˘/····· |
| When you went colonelling: | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| But dull intrigues 'twixt jades and teagues, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| You met at Ballyspellin. | 7 | ······· |
| Our lasses fair, say what you dare, | 8 | //˘····· |
| Who sowins make with shelling, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| At Market-hill more beaux can kill, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Than yours at Ballyspellin. | 7 | ······· |
| Would I was whipt, when Sheelah stript, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To wash herself our well in, | 8 | ··˘//˘·· |
| A bum so white ne'er came in sight | 8 | ········ |
| At paltry Ballyspellin. | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Your mawkins there smocks hempen wear; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Of Holland not an ell in, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| No, not a rag, whate'er your brag, | 9 | ····˘˘/·· |
| Is found at Ballyspellin. | 7 | ······· |
| But Tom will prate at any rate, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| All other nymphs expelling: | 7 | ·/˘·˘/˘ |
| Because he gets a few grisettes | 8 | ········ |
| At lousy Ballyspellin. | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| There's bonny Jane, in yonder lane, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Just o'er against the Bell inn; | 7 | ······· |
| Where can you meet a lass so sweet, | 8 | ········ |
| Round all your Ballyspellin? | 7 | ······· |
| We have a girl deserves an earl; | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| She came from Enniskellin; | 7 | ······· |
| So fair, so young, no such among | 8 | ········ |
| The belles of Ballyspellin. | 7 | ······· |
| How would you stare, to see her there, | 8 | ········ |
| The foggy mists dispelling, | 7 | ·/˘·˘/˘ |
| That cloud the brows of every blowse | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Who lives at Ballyspellin! | 7 | ······· |
| Now, as I live, I would not give | 8 | ········ |
| A stiver or a skellin, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| To towse and kiss the fairest miss | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That leaks at Ballyspellin. | 7 | ······· |
| Whoe'er will raise such lies as these | 7 | ······· |
| Deserves a good cudgelling: | 7 | ˘/··/˘˘ |
| Who falsely boasts of belles and toasts | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| At dirty Ballyspellin. | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| My rhymes are gone to all but one, | 8 | ········ |
| Which is, our trees are felling; | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| As proper quite as those you write, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| To force in Ballyspellin. | 7 | ······· |
Notes from the edition 1
The notes to the Poems of Jonathan Swift, Volume II (Project Gutenberg #13621).
- Stanza 6, line 2 A food much used in Scotland, the north of Ireland, and other parts. It is made of oatmeal, and sometimes of the shellings of oats; and known by the names of sowins or flummery.--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.