Dick, a Maggot
As when, from rooting in a bin,All powder'd o'er from tail to chin,A lively maggot sallies out,You know him by his hazel snout:So when the grandson of his grandsireForth issues wriggling, Dick Drawcansir,With powder'd rump and back and side,You cannot blanch his tawny hide;For 'tis beyond the power of mealThe gipsy visage to conceal;For as he shakes his wainscot chops,Down every mealy atom drops,And leaves the tartar phiz in show,Like a fresh t--d just dropp'd on snow.
Words in this poem
- maggot n.
- The footless larva of any fly. See Larval. [W. macai, pl. maceiod, magiod, a worn or grub; cf. magu to bread.]
- grandsire n.
- Specifically, a grandfather; more generally, any ancestor. [OF. grantsire. See Grand, and Sire.]
- drawcansir n.
- A blustering, bullying fellow; a pot-valiant braggart; a bully. [From the name of a bullying braggart character in the play by George Villiers called "The Rehearsal."]
- visage n.
- The face, countenance, or look of a person or an animal; -- chiefly applied to the human face. [F. visage, from L. visus a seeing, a look, fr. videre, visum, to see. See Vision.]
- wainscot n.
- Oaken timber or boarding. [OD. waeghe-schot, D. wagen-schot, a clapboard, fr. OD. waeg, weeg, a wall (akin to AS. wah; cf. Icel. veggr) + schot a covering of boards (akin to E. shot, shoo]
- chops n.
- The jaws; also, the fleshy parts about the mouth. [See Chop a jaw.]
- phiz n.
- The face or visage. [Contr. fr. physiognomy.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Dick, a Maggot 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, Dick, a Maggot, in Poems, Volume II (1710–1745), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13621, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems/dick-a-maggot.html, id L09341.
Form and metre
Dick, a Maggot is 14 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 92%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 14% 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGG binA · chinA · outB · snoutB · grandsireC · drawcansirC · sideD · hideD · mealE · concealE · chopsF · dropsF · showG · snowG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| As when, from rooting in a bin, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| All powder'd o'er from tail to chin, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A lively maggot sallies out, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| You know him by his hazel snout: | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| So when the grandson of his grandsire | 9 | ···/···/˘ |
| Forth issues wriggling, Dick Drawcansir, | 9 | ·/˘/˘·/˘˘ |
| With powder'd rump and back and side, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| You cannot blanch his tawny hide; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| For 'tis beyond the power of meal | 8 | ·····/·· |
| The gipsy visage to conceal; | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| For as he shakes his wainscot chops, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Down every mealy atom drops, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| And leaves the tartar phiz in show, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Like a fresh t--d just dropp'd on snow. | 9 | ········· |
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.