Drapier's-Hill. 1730
We give the world to understand,Our thriving Dean has purchased land;A purchase which will bring him clearAbove his rent four pounds a-year;Provided to improve the ground,He will but add two hundred pound;And from his endless hoarded store,To build a house, five hundred more.Sir Arthur, too, shall have his will,And call the mansion Drapier's-Hill;That, when a nation, long enslaved,Forgets by whom it once was saved;When none the Drapier's praise shall sing,His signs aloft no longer swing,His medals and his prints forgotten,And all his handkerchiefs are rotten,His famous letters made waste paper,This hill may keep the name of Drapier;In spite of envy, flourish still,And Drapier's vie with Cooper's-Hill.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- mansion n.
- A dwelling place, -- whether a part or whole of a house or other shelter. [OF. mansion, F. maison, fr. L. mansio a staying, remaining, a dwelling, habitation, fr. manere, mansum, to stay, dwell; akin to Gr. Manse, Manor, Menagerie, Men]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Drapier's-Hill. 1730 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, Drapier's-Hill. 1730, in Cadenus and Vanessa, and Other Poems (1710–1745), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13621, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems/drapier-s-hill-1730.html, id L09285.
Form and metre
Drapier's-Hill. 1730 is 20 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 95%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 5% 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJ understandA · landA · clearB · yearB · groundC · poundC · storeD · moreD · willE · hillE · enslavedF · savedF · singG · swingG · forgottenH · rottenH · paperI · drapierI · stillJ · hillJ
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 |
|---|---|---|
| We give the world to understand, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Our thriving Dean has purchased land; | 8 | //˘··/˘· |
| A purchase which will bring him clear | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Above his rent four pounds a-year; | 8 | ········ |
| Provided to improve the ground, | 8 | ˘/˘·˘/·· |
| He will but add two hundred pound; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And from his endless hoarded store, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| To build a house, five hundred more. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Sir Arthur, too, shall have his will, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And call the mansion Drapier's-Hill; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| That, when a nation, long enslaved, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Forgets by whom it once was saved; | 8 | ˘/······ |
| When none the Drapier's praise shall sing, | 8 | ········ |
| His signs aloft no longer swing, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| His medals and his prints forgotten, | 9 | ·/˘···˘/˘ |
| And all his handkerchiefs are rotten, | 9 | ···/˘˘·/˘ |
| His famous letters made waste paper, | 9 | ·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| This hill may keep the name of Drapier; | 9 | ········· |
| In spite of envy, flourish still, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And Drapier's vie with Cooper's-Hill. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
Notes from the edition 1
The notes to the Poems of Jonathan Swift, Volume II (Project Gutenberg #13621).
- Line 16 Medals were cast, many signs hung up, and handkerchiefs made, with devices in honour of the Dean, under the name of M. B. Drapier. See "Verses on his own death," vol. i.--W. E. B.
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