On the Great Buried Bottle by Dr. Delany
Amphora, quae moestum linquis, laetumque revisesArentem dominum, sit tibi terra levis.Tu quoque depositum serves, neve opprime, marmor;Amphora non meruit tam pretiosa mori.
Words in this poem
- amphora n.
- Among the ancients, a two-handled vessel, tapering at the bottom, used for holding wine, oil, etc. [L., fr. Gr. Ampul.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On the Great Buried Bottle by Dr. Delany 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 the Great Buried Bottle by Dr. Delany, in Poems, Volume II (1710–1745), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13621, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems/on-the-great-buried-bottle-by-dr-delany.html, id L09238.
Form and metre
On the Great Buried Bottle by Dr. Delany is 4 lines in a single stanza. The lines average 12.0 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
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.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Amphora, quae moestum linquis, laetumque revises | 12 | /˘·······˘/˘ |
| Arentem dominum, sit tibi terra levis. | 13 | ·······/·/˘/˘ |
| Tu quoque depositum serves, neve opprime, marmor; | 12 | ··˘/˘˘····/˘ |
| Amphora non meruit tam pretiosa mori. | 11 | /˘·······/˘ |
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.