Answered by Dr. Sheridan
Your house of hair, and lady's hand,At first did put me to a stand.I have it now--'tis plain enough--Your hairy business is a muff.Your engine fraught with cooling gales,At once so like your masts and sails;Your thing of various shape and hueMust be some painted toy, I knew;And for the rhyme to you're the man,What fits it better than a fan?
Words in this poem
- muff n.
- A soft cover of cylindrical form, usually of fur, worn by women to shield the hands from cold. [Cf. LG. muff, D. mof, G., Dan., & Sw. muff, F. moufle mitten, LL. muffula, MHG. mouwe sleeve, D. mouw, and E. muffle, v.]
- fraught n.
- A freight; a cargo. [OE.fraight, fraght; akin to Dan. fragt, Sw. frakt, D. vracht, G. fracht, cf. OHG. fr merit, reward; perh. from corresponding to E. for + The root of E. own. Cf.]
- cooling a.
- Adapted to cool and refresh; allaying heat.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Answered by Dr. Sheridan 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, Answered by Dr. Sheridan, in Cadenus and Vanessa, and Other Poems (1710–1745), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13621, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems/answered-by-dr-sheridan.html, id L09275.
Form and metre
Answered by Dr. Sheridan is 10 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 10% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 AABBCCDDEE handA · standA · enoughB · muffB · galesC · sailsC · hueD · knewD · manE · fanE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Your house of hair, and lady's hand, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| At first did put me to a stand. | 8 | ········ |
| I have it now--'tis plain enough-- | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Your hairy business is a muff. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Your engine fraught with cooling gales, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| At once so like your masts and sails; | 8 | ········ |
| Your thing of various shape and hue | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Must be some painted toy, I knew; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And for the rhyme to you're the man, | 8 | ········ |
| What fits it better than a fan? | 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.