On Stealing a Crown, When the Dean Was Asleep
Dear Dean, since you in sleepy wiseHave oped your mouth, and closed your eyes,Like ghost I glide along your floor,And softly shut the parlour door:For, should I break your sweet repose,Who knows what money you might lose:Since oftentimes it has been found,A dream has given ten thousand pound?Then sleep, my friend; dear Dean, sleep on,And all you get shall be your own;Provided you to this agree,That all you lose belongs to me.
Words in this poem
- ghost n.
- The spirit; the soul of man. [OE. gast, gost, soul, spirit, AS. gast breath, spirit, soul; akin to OS. g spirit, soul, D. geest, G. geist, and prob. to E. gaze, ghastly.]
- oftentimes adv.
- Frequently; often; many times. [Often + time. Cf. -wards.]
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On Stealing a Crown, When the Dean Was Asleep 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 Stealing a Crown, When the Dean Was Asleep, in Cadenus and Vanessa, and Other Poems (1710–1745), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13621, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems/on-stealing-a-crown-when-the-dean-was-asleep.html, id L09421.
Form and metre
On Stealing a Crown, When the Dean Was Asleep is 12 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 93%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 8% 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 AABBCCDDEEFF wiseA · eyesA · floorB · doorB · reposeC · loseC · foundD · poundD · onE · ownE · agreeF · meF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Dear Dean, since you in sleepy wise | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Have oped your mouth, and closed your eyes, | 8 | ········ |
| Like ghost I glide along your floor, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| And softly shut the parlour door: | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| For, should I break your sweet repose, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Who knows what money you might lose: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Since oftentimes it has been found, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A dream has given ten thousand pound? | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| Then sleep, my friend; dear Dean, sleep on, | 8 | ········ |
| And all you get shall be your own; | 8 | ········ |
| Provided you to this agree, | 8 | ˘/˘···˘/ |
| That all you lose belongs to me. | 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.