Laurel · Jonathan Swift · Cadenus and Vanessa, and Other Poems

On Cutting Down the Thorn at Market-Hill. 1727

Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) · 1710–1745

iambic tetrameter · ABAB · 88 lines · from Cadenus and Vanessa, and Other Poems

Read it with the toolsAnalyse this poemAll of Cadenus and Vanessa, and Other Poems

At Market-Hill, as well appearsBy chronicle of ancient date,There stood for many hundred yearsA spacious thorn before the gate.

Hither came every village maid,And on the boughs her garland hung,And here, beneath the spreading shade,Secure from satyrs sat and sung.

Sir Archibald, that valorous knight.The lord of all the fruitful plain,Would come to listen with delight,For he was fond of rural strain.

(Sir Archibald, whose favourite nameShall stand for ages on record,By Scottish bards of highest fame,Wise Hawthornden and Stirling's lord.)

But time with iron teeth, I ween,Has canker'd all its branches round;No fruit or blossom to be seen,Its head reclining toward the ground.

This aged, sickly, sapless thorn,Which must, alas! no longer stand,Behold the cruel Dean in scornCuts down with sacrilegious hand.

Dame Nature, when she saw the blow,Astonish'd gave a dreadful shriek;And mother Tellus trembled so,She scarce recover'd in a week.

The Sylvan powers, with fear perplex'd,In prudence and compassion sent(For none could tell whose turn was next)Sad omens of the dire event.

The magpie, lighting on the stock,Stood chattering with incessant din:And with her beak gave many a knock,To rouse and warn the nymph within.

The owl foresaw, in pensive mood,The ruin of her ancient seat;And fled in haste, with all her brood,To seek a more secure retreat.

Last trotted forth the gentle swine,To ease her itch against the stump,And dismally was heard to whine,All as she scrubb'd her meazly rump.

The nymph who dwells in every tree,(If all be true that poets chant,)Condemn'd by Fate's supreme decree,Must die with her expiring plant.

Thus, when the gentle Spina foundThe thorn committed to her care,Received its last and deadly wound,She fled, and vanish'd into air.

But from the root a dismal groanFirst issuing struck the murderer's ears:And, in a shrill revengeful tone,This prophecy he trembling hears:

"Thou chief contriver of my fall,Relentless Dean, to mischief born;My kindred oft thine hide shall gall,Thy gown and cassock oft be torn.

"And thy confederate dame, who bragsThat she condemn'd me to the fire,Shall rend her petticoats to rags,And wound her legs with every brier.

"Nor thou, Lord Arthur, shall escape;To thee I often call'd in vain,Against that assassin in crape;Yet thou couldst tamely see me slain:

"Nor, when I felt the dreadful blow,Or chid the Dean, or pinch'd thy spouse;Since you could see me treated so,(An old retainer to your house:)

"May that fell Dean, by whose commandWas form'd this Machiavelian plot,Not leave a thistle on thy land;Then who will own thee for a Scot?

"Pigs and fanatics, cows and teagues,Through all my empire I foresee,To tear thy hedges join in leagues,Sworn to revenge my thorn and me.

"And thou, the wretch ordain'd by fate,Neal Gahagan, Hibernian clown,With hatchet blunter than thy pate,To hack my hallow'd timber down;

"When thou, suspended high in air,Diest on a more ignoble tree,(For thou shall steal thy landlord's mare,)Then, bloody caitiff! think on me."

Words in this poem 24
valorous a.
Possessing or exhibiting valor; brave; courageous; valiant; intrepid. [Cf. F. valeureux, LL. valorosus.]
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,]
ween v. i.
To think; to imagine; to fancy. [OE. wenen, AS. w, fr. w hope, expectation, opinion; akin to D. waan, OFries. w, OS. & OHG. wan, G. wahn delusion, Icel. van hope, expectation, Goth. w, and D. w]
sapless a.
Destitute of sap; not juicy.
sacrilegious a.
Violating sacred things; polluted with sacrilege; involving sacrilege; profane; impious. [From sacrilege: cf. L. sacrilegus.]
dame n.
A mistress of a family, who is a lady; a womam in authority; especially, a lady. [F. dame, LL. domna, fr. L. domina mistress, lady, fem. of dominus master, ruler, lord; akin to domare to tame, subdue. See Tame, and cf. Dam mother, Dan, Danger]
dreadful a.
Full of dread or terror; fearful.
scarce a.
Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
dire a.
Ill-boding; portentous; as, dire omens. [L. dirus; of uncertain origin.]
chattering n.
The act or habit of talking idly or rapidly, or of making inarticulate sounds; the sounds so made; noise made by the collision of the teeth; chatter.
dismally adv.
In a dismal manner; gloomily; sorrowfully; uncomfortably.
expiring a.
Breathing out air from the lungs; emitting fluid or volatile matter; exhaling; breathing the last breath; dying; ending; terminating.
dismal a.
Fatal; ill-omened; unlucky. [Formerly a noun; e. g., "I trow it was in the dismalle." Chaucer. Of uncertain origin; but perh. (as suggested by Skeat) from OF. disme, F. dîme, tithe, the phr]
relentless a.
Unmoved by appeals for sympathy or forgiveness; insensible to the distresses of others; destitute of tenderness; unrelenting; unyielding; unpitying; as, a prey to relentless despotism.
cassock n.
A long outer garment formerly worn by men and women, as well as by soldiers as part of their uniform. [F. casaque, fr. It. casacca, perh. fr. L. casa cottage, in It., house; or of Slavic origin.]
brier n.
A plant with a slender woody stem bearing stout prickles; especially, species of Rosa, Rubus, and Smilax. [OE. brere, brer, AS. brer, brær; cf. Ir. briar prickle, thorn, brier, pin, Gael. preas bush, brier, W. prys, prysg.]
tamely adv.
In a tame manner.
spouse v. t.
To wed; to espouse. [See Espouse, and Spouse, n.]
machiavelian a.
Of or pertaining to Machiavel, or to his supposed principles; politically cunning; characterized by duplicity or bad faith; crafty. [From Machiavel, an Italian writer, secretary and historiographer to the republic of Florence.]
foresee v. i.
To have or exercise foresight.
neal v. i.
To be tempered by heat.
hibernian a.
Of or pertaining to Hibernia, now Ireland; Irish. [L. Hibernia, Ireland.]
pate n.
A pie. See Patty. [F. pâté.]
caitiff a.
Captive; wretched; unfortunate. [OE. caitif, cheitif, captive, miserable, OF. caitif, chaitif, captive, mean, wretched, F. chétif, fr. L. captivus captive, fr. capere to take, akin to E. heave.]

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

On Cutting Down the Thorn at Market-Hill. 1727 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, On Cutting Down the Thorn at Market-Hill. 1727, in Cadenus and Vanessa, and Other Poems (1710–1745), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13621, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems/on-cutting-down-the-thorn-at-market-hill-1727.html, id L09280.

Form and metre

On Cutting Down the Thorn at Market-Hill. 1727 is 88 lines in 22 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 10% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.

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. 1 ABAB appearsA · dateB · yearsA · gateB
  2. 2 ABAB maidA · hungB · shadeA · sungB
  3. 3 ABAB knightA · plainB · delightA · strainB
  4. 4 ABAB nameA · recordB · fameA · lordB
  5. 5 ABAB weenA · roundB · seenA · groundB
  6. 6 ABAB thornA · standB · scornA · handB
  7. 7 ABAB blowA · shriekB · soA · weekB
  8. 8 ABAB perplex'dA · sentB · nextA · eventB
  9. 9 ABAB stockA · dinB · knockA · withinB
  10. 10 ABAB moodA · seatB · broodA · retreatB
  11. 11 ABAB swineA · stumpB · whineA · rumpB
  12. 12 ABAB treeA · chantB · decreeA · plantB
  13. 13 ABAB foundA · careB · woundA · airB
  14. 14 ABAB groanA · earsB · toneA · hearsB
  15. 15 ABAB fallA · bornB · gallA · tornB
  16. 16 ABAB bragsA · fireB · ragsA · brierB
  17. 17 ABAB escapeA · vainB · crapeA · slainB
  18. 18 ABAB blowA · spouseB · soA · houseB
  19. 19 ABAB commandA · plotB · landA · scotB
  20. 20 ABAB teaguesA · foreseeB · leaguesA · meB
  21. 21 ABAB fateA · clownB · pateA · downB
  22. 22 ABAB airA · treeB · mareA · meB
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.

LineSyl.Stress
At Market-Hill, as well appears8·/˘···˘/
By chronicle of ancient date,8·/˘˘·/˘·
There stood for many hundred years8···/˘/˘·
A spacious thorn before the gate.8·/˘·····
Hither came every village maid,8/˘·/˘/˘·
And on the boughs her garland hung,8·····/˘·
And here, beneath the spreading shade,8·····/˘·
Secure from satyrs sat and sung.8˘/······
Sir Archibald, that valorous knight.9·/˘··/˘˘·
The lord of all the fruitful plain,8·····/˘·
Would come to listen with delight,8···/˘·˘/
For he was fond of rural strain.8·····/˘·
(Sir Archibald, whose favourite name9·/˘······
Shall stand for ages on record,8···/˘·˘/
By Scottish bards of highest fame,8·/˘··/˘·
Wise Hawthornden and Stirling's lord.)8·····/˘·
But time with iron teeth, I ween,8···/˘···
Has canker'd all its branches round;8·····/˘·
No fruit or blossom to be seen,8···/˘···
Its head reclining toward the ground.9··˘/˘····
This aged, sickly, sapless thorn,7··/˘/˘·
Which must, alas! no longer stand,8··˘/·/˘·
Behold the cruel Dean in scorn8˘/·/˘···
Cuts down with sacrilegious hand.8····˘/˘·
Dame Nature, when she saw the blow,8·/˘·····
Astonish'd gave a dreadful shriek;8˘/˘··/˘·
And mother Tellus trembled so,8·/˘··/˘·
She scarce recover'd in a week.8··˘/˘···
The Sylvan powers, with fear perplex'd,8·/˘/··˘/
In prudence and compassion sent8·/˘·˘/˘·
(For none could tell whose turn was next)8········
Sad omens of the dire event.8·/˘···˘/
The magpie, lighting on the stock,8·/·/˘···
Stood chattering with incessant din:8·/˘·˘/˘·
And with her beak gave many a knock,8·····/··
To rouse and warn the nymph within.8········
The owl foresaw, in pensive mood,8···/·/˘·
The ruin of her ancient seat;8·/˘··/˘·
And fled in haste, with all her brood,8········
To seek a more secure retreat.8····˘/˘/
Last trotted forth the gentle swine,8·/˘··/˘·
To ease her itch against the stump,8········
And dismally was heard to whine,8·/˘˘····
All as she scrubb'd her meazly rump.8········
The nymph who dwells in every tree,8·····/˘·
(If all be true that poets chant,)8·····/˘·
Condemn'd by Fate's supreme decree,8˘/··˘/˘/
Must die with her expiring plant.8····˘/˘·
Thus, when the gentle Spina found8···/˘/˘·
The thorn committed to her care,8··˘/˘···
Received its last and deadly wound,8˘/···/˘·
She fled, and vanish'd into air.8···/˘···
But from the root a dismal groan8·····/˘·
First issuing struck the murderer's ears:8·/˘··/˘·
And, in a shrill revengeful tone,8····˘/˘·
This prophecy he trembling hears:8·/˘·/˘˘·
"Thou chief contriver of my fall,8··˘/˘···
Relentless Dean, to mischief born;8˘/˘··/˘·
My kindred oft thine hide shall gall,8·/˘·····
Thy gown and cassock oft be torn.8···/˘···
"And thy confederate dame, who brags8··˘/˘···
That she condemn'd me to the fire,9··˘/···/˘
Shall rend her petticoats to rags,8···/˘···
And wound her legs with every brier.9·····/˘/˘
"Nor thou, Lord Arthur, shall escape;8···/˘·˘/
To thee I often call'd in vain,8···/˘···
Against that assassin in crape;8···˘/˘··
Yet thou couldst tamely see me slain:8···/˘···
"Nor, when I felt the dreadful blow,8·····/˘·
Or chid the Dean, or pinch'd thy spouse;8········
Since you could see me treated so,8·····/˘·
(An old retainer to your house:)8··˘/˘···
"May that fell Dean, by whose command8······˘/
Was form'd this Machiavelian plot,8········
Not leave a thistle on thy land;8···/˘···
Then who will own thee for a Scot?8········
"Pigs and fanatics, cows and teagues,8··˘/˘···
Through all my empire I foresee,8···/˘·˘/
To tear thy hedges join in leagues,8···/˘···
Sworn to revenge my thorn and me.8··˘/····
"And thou, the wretch ordain'd by fate,8····˘/··
Neal Gahagan, Hibernian clown,9·˘/˘˘/˘˘·
With hatchet blunter than thy pate,8·/˘/˘···
To hack my hallow'd timber down;8···/˘/˘·
"When thou, suspended high in air,8··˘/˘···
Diest on a more ignoble tree,8····˘/˘·
(For thou shall steal thy landlord's mare,)8·····/··
Then, bloody caitiff! think on me."8·/˘/˘···
Notes from the edition 3

The notes to the Poems of Jonathan Swift, Volume II (Project Gutenberg #13621).

  1. Stanza 3, line 1 Sir Archibald Acheson, secretary of state for Scotland.
  2. Stanza 4, line 4 Drummond of Hawthornden, and Sir William Alexander, Earl of Stirling, who were both friends of Sir Archibald, and famous for their poetry.
  3. Stanza 17, line 1 Sir Arthur Acheson.

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.

More by Jonathan Swift

On Poetry: A Rhapsody, and Other PoemsCadenus and Vanessa, and Other Poems