Daphne
Daphne knows, with equal ease,How to vex, and how to please;But the folly of her sexMakes her sole delight to vex.Never woman more devisedSurer ways to be despised;Paradoxes weakly wielding,Always conquer'd, never yielding.To dispute, her chief delight,Without one opinion right:Thick her arguments she lays on,And with cavils combats reason;Answers in decisive way,Never hears what you can say;Still her odd perverseness showsChiefly where she nothing knows;And, where she is most familiar,Always peevisher and sillier;All her spirits in a flameWhen she knows she's most to blame.Send me hence ten thousand miles,From a face that always smiles:None could ever act that part,But a fury in her heart.Ye who hate such inconsistence,To be easy, keep your distance:Or in folly still befriend her,But have no concern to mend her;Lose not time to contradict her,Nor endeavour to convict her.Never take it in your thought,That she'll own, or cure a fault.Into contradiction warm her,Then, perhaps, you may reform her:Only take this rule along,Always to advise her wrong;And reprove her when she's right;She may then grow wise for spight.No--that scheme will ne'er succeed,She has better learnt her creed;She's too cunning and too skilful,When to yield, and when be wilful.Nature holds her forth two mirrors,One for truth, and one for errors:That looks hideous, fierce, and frightful;This is flattering and delightful:That she throws away as foul;Sits by this to dress her soul.Thus you have the case in view,Daphne, 'twixt the Dean and you:Heaven forbid he should despise thee,But he'll never more advise thee.
Words in this poem
- daphne n.
- A genus of diminutive Shrubs, mostly evergreen, and with fragrant blossoms. [L., a laurel tree, from Gr. .]
- wielding n.
- Power; authority; rule.
- befriend v. t.
- To act as a friend to; to favor; to aid, benefit, or countenance.
- endeavour v. t.
- To exert physical or intellectual strength for the attainment of; to use efforts to effect; to strive to achieve or reach; to try; to attempt. [OE. endevor; pref. en- + dever, devoir, duty, F. devoir: cf. F. se mettre en devoir de faire quelque chose to try to do a thing, to go about it. See Devoir, Deb]
- spight n.
- A woodpecker. See Speight.
- frightful a.
- Full of fright; affrighted; frightened.
- despise v. t.
- To look down upon with disfavor or contempt; to contemn; to scorn; to disdain; to have a low opinion or contemptuous dislike of. [OF. despis-, in some forms of despire to despise, fr. L. despicere, despectum, to look down upon, despise; de- + spicere, specere, to look. See Spy, and cf. Des]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Daphne 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, Daphne, in Poems, Volume II (1710–1745), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13621, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems/daphne.html, id L09249.
Form and metre
Daphne is 52 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 73% of the lines. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.5 syllables. 13 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 8% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in trochaic 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHH--IIJJKKLL--------MMNNOOPP--QQQQRR-- easeA · pleaseA · sexB · vexB · devisedC · despisedC · wieldingD · yieldingD · delightE · rightE · onF · reasonF · wayG · sayG · showsH · knowsH · familiar · sillier · flameI · blameI · milesJ · smilesJ · partK · heartK · inconsistenceL · distanceL · her · her · her · her · thought · fault · her · her · alongM · wrongM · rightN · spightN · succeedO · creedO · skilfulP · wilfulP · mirrors · errors · frightfulQ · delightfulQ · foulQ · soulQ · viewR · youR · thee · thee
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Daphne knows, with equal ease, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| How to vex, and how to please; | 7 | ······· |
| But the folly of her sex | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Makes her sole delight to vex. | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| Never woman more devised | 8 | /˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| Surer ways to be despised; | 8 | /˘···˘/˘ |
| Paradoxes weakly wielding, | 8 | /˘·˘/˘/˘ |
| Always conquer'd, never yielding. | 8 | /·/˘/˘/˘ |
| To dispute, her chief delight, | 7 | ·˘/··˘/ |
| Without one opinion right: | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| Thick her arguments she lays on, | 8 | ··/˘˘··· |
| And with cavils combats reason; | 8 | ····˘//˘ |
| Answers in decisive way, | 7 | /˘·˘/˘· |
| Never hears what you can say; | 7 | /˘····· |
| Still her odd perverseness shows | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| Chiefly where she nothing knows; | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| And, where she is most familiar, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Always peevisher and sillier; | 9 | /˘····/˘˘ |
| All her spirits in a flame | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| When she knows she's most to blame. | 7 | ······· |
| Send me hence ten thousand miles, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| From a face that always smiles: | 7 | ····/·· |
| None could ever act that part, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| But a fury in her heart. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Ye who hate such inconsistence, | 8 | ········ |
| To be easy, keep your distance: | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Or in folly still befriend her, | 8 | ··/˘·˘/· |
| But have no concern to mend her; | 8 | ···˘/··· |
| Lose not time to contradict her, | 8 | ·····˘/· |
| Nor endeavour to convict her. | 8 | ·˘/˘·˘/· |
| Never take it in your thought, | 7 | /˘····· |
| That she'll own, or cure a fault. | 7 | ······· |
| Into contradiction warm her, | 8 | ···˘/˘·· |
| Then, perhaps, you may reform her: | 8 | ·˘/··˘/· |
| Only take this rule along, | 7 | /˘···˘/ |
| Always to advise her wrong; | 7 | /··˘/·· |
| And reprove her when she's right; | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| She may then grow wise for spight. | 7 | ······· |
| No--that scheme will ne'er succeed, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| She has better learnt her creed; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| She's too cunning and too skilful, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| When to yield, and when be wilful. | 8 | ········ |
| Nature holds her forth two mirrors, | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| One for truth, and one for errors: | 8 | ······/˘ |
| That looks hideous, fierce, and frightful; | 9 | ··/˘˘··/˘ |
| This is flattering and delightful: | 9 | ··/˘˘·˘/˘ |
| That she throws away as foul; | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| Sits by this to dress her soul. | 7 | ······· |
| Thus you have the case in view, | 7 | ······· |
| Daphne, 'twixt the Dean and you: | 7 | /˘····· |
| Heaven forbid he should despise thee, | 8 | /˘/··˘/· |
| But he'll never more advise thee. | 8 | ··/˘·˘/· |
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