On the Moon
I with borrow'd silver shineWhat you see is none of mine.First I show you but a quarter,Like the bow that guards the Tartar:Then the half, and then the whole,Ever dancing round the pole.
What will raise your admiration,I am not one of God's creation,But sprung, (and I this truth maintain,)Like Pallas, from my father's brain.And after all, I chiefly oweMy beauty to the shades below.Most wondrous forms you see me wear,A man, a woman, lion, bear,A fish, a fowl, a cloud, a field,All figures Heaven or earth can yield;Like Daphne sometimes in a tree;Yet am not one of all you see.
Words in this poem
- admiration n.
- Wonder; astonishment. [F., fr. L. admiratio. See Admire.]
- pallas n.
- Pallas Athene, the Grecian goddess of wisdom, called also Athene, and identified, at a later period, with the Roman Minerva.
- wondrous adv.
- In a wonderful or surprising manner or degree; wonderfully. [OE. wonders, adv. (later also adj.). See Wonder, n., and cf. -wards.]
- daphne n.
- A genus of diminutive Shrubs, mostly evergreen, and with fragrant blossoms. [L., a laurel tree, from Gr. .]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On the Moon 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 Moon, in Cadenus and Vanessa, and Other Poems (1710–1745), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13621, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems/on-the-moon.html, id L09259.
Form and metre
On the Moon is 18 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.8 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 11% 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 AA--BB shineA · mineA · quarter · tartar · wholeB · poleB
- 2 AABBCCDDEEFF admirationA · creationA · maintainB · brainB · oweC · belowC · wearD · bearD · fieldE · yieldE · treeF · seeF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I with borrow'd silver shine | 7 | ··/·/˘· |
| What you see is none of mine. | 7 | ······· |
| First I show you but a quarter, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Like the bow that guards the Tartar: | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Then the half, and then the whole, | 7 | ······· |
| Ever dancing round the pole. | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| What will raise your admiration, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| I am not one of God's creation, | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| But sprung, (and I this truth maintain,) | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Like Pallas, from my father's brain. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And after all, I chiefly owe | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| My beauty to the shades below. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Most wondrous forms you see me wear, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A man, a woman, lion, bear, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| A fish, a fowl, a cloud, a field, | 8 | ········ |
| All figures Heaven or earth can yield; | 8 | ·/˘/···· |
| Like Daphne sometimes in a tree; | 8 | ·/˘/···· |
| Yet am not one of all you see. | 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.