On the Same Picture
Dan's evil genius in a triceHad stripp'd him of his coin at dice.Chloe, observing this disgrace,On Pam cut out his rueful face.By G--, says Dan, 'tis very hard,Cut out at dice, cut out at card!
Words in this poem
- trice v. t.
- To pull; to haul; to drag; to pull away. [OE. trisen; of Scand. or Low German origin; cf. Sw. trissa a sheave, pulley, triss a spritsail brace, Dan. tridse a pulley, tridse to haul by means of a pulley,]
- rueful a.
- Causing one to rue or lament; woeful; mournful; sorrowful.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On the Same Picture 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 Same Picture, in Cadenus and Vanessa, and Other Poems (1710–1745), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13621, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems/on-the-same-4.html, id L18557.
Form and metre
On the Same Picture is 6 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 90%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.6 syllables. 10 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
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 AABBCC triceA · diceA · disgraceB · faceB · hardC · cardC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Dan's evil genius in a trice | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Had stripp'd him of his coin at dice. | 8 | ········ |
| Chloe, observing this disgrace, | 8 | /˘˘/˘·˘/ |
| On Pam cut out his rueful face. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| By G--, says Dan, 'tis very hard, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Cut out at dice, cut out at card! | 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.