Epigram
Faulkner! for once you have some judgment shown,By representing Swift transform'd to stone;For could he thy ingratitude have known,Astonishment itself the work had done!
Words in this poem
- ingratitude n.
- Want of gratitude; insensibility to, forgetfulness of, or ill return for, kindness or favors received; unthankfulness; ungratefulness. [F. ingratitude, L. ingratitudo. See Ingrate.]
- astonishment n.
- The condition of one who is stunned. Hence: Numbness; loss of sensation; stupor; loss of sense. [Cf. OF. est, F. étonnement.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Epigram 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, Epigram, in Poems, Volume II (1710–1745), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13621, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems/epigram-4.html, id L09451.
Form and metre
Epigram is 4 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 50% of the lines. The lines average 9.8 syllables.
See other poems in rhyming couplets.
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 AAA- shownA · stoneA · knownA · done
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Faulkner! for once you have some judgment shown, | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| By representing Swift transform'd to stone; | 10 | ··˘/˘·˘/·· |
| For could he thy ingratitude have known, | 10 | ····˘/˘˘·· |
| Astonishment itself the work had done! | 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.