Dr. Swift's Reply
The verses you sent on the bottling your wineWere, in every one's judgment, exceedingly fine;And I must confess, as a dean and divine,I think you inspired by the Muses all nine.I nicely examined them every line,And the worst of them all like a barn-door did shine;O, that Jove would give me such a talent as thine!With Delany or Dan I would scorn to combine.I know they have many a wicked design;And, give Satan his due, Dan begins to refine.However, I wish, honest comrade of mine,You would really on Thursday leave St. Catharine,Where I hear you are cramm'd every day like a swine;With me you'll no more have a stomach to dine,Nor after your victuals lie sleeping supine;So I wish you were toothless, like Lord Masserine.But were you as wicked as lewd Aretine,I wish you would tell me which way you incline.If when you return your road you don't line,On Thursday I'll pay my respects at your shrine,Wherever you bend, wherever you twine,In square, or in opposite, circle, or trine.Your beef will on Thursday be salter than brine;I hope you have swill'd with new milk from the kine,As much as the Liffee's outdone by the Rhine;And Dan shall be with us with nose aquiline.If you do not come back we shall weep out our eyne;Or may your gown never be good Lutherine.The beef you have got I hear is a chine;But if too many come, your madam will whine;And then you may kiss the low end of her spine.But enough of this poetry Alexandrine;I hope you will not think this a pasquine.
Words in this poem
- bottling n.
- The act or the process of putting anything into bottles (as beer, mineral water, etc.) and corking the bottles.
- jove n.
- The chief divinity of the ancient Romans; Jupiter. [L. Jupiter, gen. Jovis, OL. Jovis, nom. & gen. for Djovis; akin to E. Tuesday. See Tuesday, and cf. Jupiter.]
- 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]
- supine a.
- Lying on the back, or with the face upward; -- opposed to prone. [L. supinus, akin to sub under, super above. Cf. Sub-, Super-.]
- toothless a.
- Having no teeth.
- lewd a.
- Not clerical; laic; laical; hence, unlearned; simple. [OE.lewed, lewd, lay, ignorant, vile, AS. l laical, belonging to the laity.]
- wherever adv.
- At or in whatever place; wheresoever.
- trine a.
- Threefold; triple; as, trine dimensions, or length, breadth, and thickness. [See Trinal.]
- salter n.
- One who makes, sells, or applies salt; one who salts meat or fish.
- 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,]
- aquiline a.
- Belonging to or like an eagle. [L. aquilinus, fr. aquila eagle: cf. F. aquilin. See Eagle.]
- eyne n.
- Plural of eye; obsolete, or used only in poetry.
- alexandrine a.
- Belonging to Alexandria; Alexandrian. Bancroft.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Dr. Swift's Reply 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, Dr. Swift's Reply, in Cadenus and Vanessa, and Other Poems (1710–1745), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13621, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems/dr-swift-s-reply.html, id L26343.
Form and metre
Dr. Swift's Reply is 33 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 91% of the lines. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
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 AAAAAAAAAAAAAAABBAAAAAAAAA-AACCCC wineA · fineA · divineA · nineA · lineA · shineA · thineA · combineA · designA · refineA · mineA · catharineA · swineA · dineA · supineA · masserineB · aretineB · inclineA · lineA · shrineA · twineA · trineA · brineA · kineA · rhineA · aquilineA · eyne · lutherineA · chineA · whineC · spineC · alexandrineC · pasquineC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The verses you sent on the bottling your wine | 11 | ·/˘····/˘·· |
| Were, in every one's judgment, exceedingly fine; | 11 | ··/˘·/˘˘/˘· |
| And I must confess, as a dean and divine, | 11 | ···˘/····˘/ |
| I think you inspired by the Muses all nine. | 11 | ···˘/··/˘·· |
| I nicely examined them every line, | 11 | ·/˘˘/˘·/˘˘· |
| And the worst of them all like a barn-door did shine; | 12 | ············ |
| O, that Jove would give me such a talent as thine! | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| With Delany or Dan I would scorn to combine. | 12 | ·/˘˘······˘/ |
| I know they have many a wicked design; | 11 | ····/˘·/˘˘/ |
| And, give Satan his due, Dan begins to refine. | 12 | ··/˘···˘/·˘/ |
| However, I wish, honest comrade of mine, | 11 | ·/˘··/˘/··· |
| You would really on Thursday leave St. Catharine, | 11 | ··/˘·/˘··/˘ |
| Where I hear you are cramm'd every day like a swine; | 12 | ······/˘···· |
| With me you'll no more have a stomach to dine, | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| Nor after your victuals lie sleeping supine; | 11 | ····/˘·/˘˘/ |
| So I wish you were toothless, like Lord Masserine. | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| But were you as wicked as lewd Aretine, | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| I wish you would tell me which way you incline. | 11 | ·········˘/ |
| If when you return your road you don't line, | 10 | ···˘/····· |
| On Thursday I'll pay my respects at your shrine, | 11 | ·/····˘/··· |
| Wherever you bend, wherever you twine, | 10 | ˘/˘··˘/˘·· |
| In square, or in opposite, circle, or trine. | 11 | ····/˘˘/˘·· |
| Your beef will on Thursday be salter than brine; | 11 | ····/··/˘·· |
| I hope you have swill'd with new milk from the kine, | 11 | ··········· |
| As much as the Liffee's outdone by the Rhine; | 10 | ·····//··· |
| And Dan shall be with us with nose aquiline. | 11 | ········/˘˘ |
| If you do not come back we shall weep out our eyne; | 12 | ··········/· |
| Or may your gown never be good Lutherine. | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| The beef you have got I hear is a chine; | 10 | ·········· |
| But if too many come, your madam will whine; | 11 | ···/˘··/˘·· |
| And then you may kiss the low end of her spine. | 11 | ··········· |
| But enough of this poetry Alexandrine; | 12 | ·˘/··/˘˘·˘/˘ |
| I hope you will not think this a pasquine. | 10 | ·········· |
Notes from the edition 2
The notes to the Poems of Jonathan Swift, Volume II (Project Gutenberg #13621).
- Line 12 The seat of Lady Mountcashel, near Dublin.--F.
- Line 17 Pietro Aretino (1492-1557), an Italian poet noted for his satirical and licentious verse,--W. E. B.
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