Epigram on Lord Orrery's Remarks on Swift's Life and Writings
A sore disease this scribbling itch is!His Lordship, in his Pliny seen,Turns Madam Pilkington in breeches,And now attacks our Patriot Dean.
What! libel his friend when laid in ground:Nay, good sir, you may spare your hints,His parallel at last is found,For what he writes George Faulkner prints.
Had Swift provoked to this behaviour,Yet after death resentment cools,Sure his last act bespoke his favour,He built an hospital--for fools.
Words in this poem
- scribbling n.
- The act or process of carding coarsely. Scribbing machine, the machine used for the first carding of wool or other fiber; -- called also scribbler. [See 1st Scribble.]
- favour n.
- Kind regard; propitious aspect; countenance; friendly disposition; kindness; good will. [Written also favour.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Epigram on Lord Orrery's Remarks on Swift's Life and Writings 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 on Lord Orrery's Remarks on Swift's Life and Writings, in Poems, Volume II (1710–1745), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13621, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems/epigram-on-lord-orrery-s-remarks-on-swift-s-life-and-writing.html, id L09449.
Form and metre
Epigram on Lord Orrery's Remarks on Swift's Life and Writings is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.4 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
See 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 ABAB isA · seenB · breechesA · deanB
- 2 ABAB groundA · hintsB · foundA · printsB
- 3 -A-A behaviour · coolsA · favour · foolsA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A sore disease this scribbling itch is! | 9 | ··˘/·/˘·· |
| His Lordship, in his Pliny seen, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Turns Madam Pilkington in breeches, | 9 | ·/˘/˘˘·/˘ |
| And now attacks our Patriot Dean. | 8 | ··˘///˘· |
| What! libel his friend when laid in ground: | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Nay, good sir, you may spare your hints, | 8 | ········ |
| His parallel at last is found, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| For what he writes George Faulkner prints. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Had Swift provoked to this behaviour, | 9 | ··˘/··˘/˘ |
| Yet after death resentment cools, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Sure his last act bespoke his favour, | 9 | ····˘/·/˘ |
| He built an hospital--for fools. | 8 | ···/·˘·· |
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.