Musa Clonshoghiana
That Downpatrick's Dean, or Patrick's down went,Like two arrand Deans, two Deans errant I meant;So that Christmas appears at Bellcampe like a Lent,Gives the gamesters of both houses great discontent.Our parsons agree here, as those did at Trent,Dan's forehead has got a most damnable dent,Besides a large hole in his Michaelmas rent.But your fancy on rhyming so cursedly bent,With your bloody ouns in one stanza pent;Does Jack's utter ruin at picket prevent,For an answer in specie to yours must be sent;So this moment at crambo (not shuffling) is spent,And I lose by this crotchet quaterze, point, and quint,Which you know to a gamester is great bitterment;But whisk shall revenge me on you, Batt, and Brent.Bellcampe, January 1, 1717.
Words in this poem 16
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- errant n.
- One who wanders about. Fuller.
- damnable a.
- Liable to damnation; deserving, or for which one deserves, to be damned; of a damning nature. [L. damnabilis, fr. damnare: cf. F. damnable. See Damn.]
- dent n.
- A stroke; a blow. [A variant of Dint.]
- michaelmas n.
- The feat of the archangel Michael, a church festival, celebrated on the 29th of September. Hence, colloquially, autumn. [Michael + mass religious service; OE. Mighelmesse.]
- cursedly adv.
- In a cursed manner; miserably; in a manner to be detested; enormously. [Low]
- pent p. p.
- Penned or shut up; confined; -- often with up. [From Pen, v. t.]
- picket n.
- A stake sharpened or pointed, especially one used in fortification and encampments, to mark bounds and angles; or one used for tethering horses. [F. piquet, properly dim. of pique spear, pike. See Pike, and cf. Piquet.]
- crambo n.
- A game in which one person gives a word, to which another finds a rhyme. [Cf. Cramp, a., difficult.]
- crotchet v. i.
- To play music in measured time. Donne.
- quint n.
- A set or sequence of five, as in piquet. [F. quinte, fr. L. quintus, quinta, the fifth, quinque five. See Five.]
- gamester n.
- A merry, frolicsome person. [Game + -ster.]
- 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,]
- batt n.
- A large stick; a club; specifically, a piece of wood with one end thicker or broader than the other, used in playing baseball, cricket, etc. [OE. batte, botte, AS. batt; perhaps fr. the Celtic; cf. Ir. bat, bata, stick, staff; but cf. also F. batte a beater (thing), wooden sword, battre to beat.]
- brent n.
- A brant. See Brant. [Cf. Brant.]
- january n.
- The first month of the year, containing thirty-one days. [L. Januarius, fr. Janus an old Latin deity, the god of the sun and the year, to whom the month of January was sacred; cf. janua a door, Skr. ya to go.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Musa Clonshoghiana 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, Musa Clonshoghiana, in Cadenus and Vanessa, and Other Poems (1710–1745), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13621, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems/musa-clonshoghiana.html, id L09384.
Form and metre
Musa Clonshoghiana is 16 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 75% of the lines. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 80% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 11.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
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 AAAAAAAAAAAA-AA- wentA · meantA · lentA · discontentA · trentA · dentA · rentA · bentA · pentA · preventA · sentA · spentA · quint · bittermentA · brentA · —
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 |
|---|---|---|
| That Downpatrick's Dean, or Patrick's down went, | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| Like two arrand Deans, two Deans errant I meant; | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| So that Christmas appears at Bellcampe like a Lent, | 12 | ··/˘˘/······ |
| Gives the gamesters of both houses great discontent. | 12 | ·······/˘·˘/ |
| Our parsons agree here, as those did at Trent, | 11 | //˘˘/······ |
| Dan's forehead has got a most damnable dent, | 11 | ·/˘····/˘˘· |
| Besides a large hole in his Michaelmas rent. | 11 | ˘/·····/˘˘· |
| But your fancy on rhyming so cursedly bent, | 12 | ··/˘·/˘·/˘˘· |
| With your bloody ouns in one stanza pent; | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| Does Jack's utter ruin at picket prevent, | 10 | ··/˘/·/˘˘/ |
| For an answer in specie to yours must be sent; | 13 | ··/˘·/˘˘····· |
| So this moment at crambo (not shuffling) is spent, | 12 | ··/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| And I lose by this crotchet quaterze, point, and quint, | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| Which you know to a gamester is great bitterment; | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| But whisk shall revenge me on you, Batt, and Brent. | 11 | ···˘/······ |
| Bellcampe, January 1, 1717. | 6 | ··/˘·˘ |
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.