On Wood the Ironmonger. 1725
Salmoneus, as the Grecian tale is,Was a mad coppersmith of Elis:Up at his forge by morning peep,No creature in the lane could sleep;Among a crew of roystering fellowsWould sit whole evenings at the alehouse;His wife and children wanted bread,While he went always drunk to bed.This vapouring scab must needs deviseTo ape the thunder of the skies:With brass two fiery steeds he shod,To make a clattering as they trod,Of polish'd brass his flaming carLike lightning dazzled from afar;And up he mounts into the box,And he must thunder, with a pox.Then furious he begins his march,Drives rattling o'er a brazen arch;With squibs and crackers arm'd to throwAmong the trembling crowd below.All ran to prayers, both priests and laity,To pacify this angry deity;When Jove, in pity to the town,With real thunder knock'd him down.Then what a huge delight were all in,To see the wicked varlet sprawling;They search'd his pockets on the place,And found his copper all was base;They laugh'd at such an Irish blunder,To take the noise of brass for thunder.The moral of this tale is proper,Applied to Wood's adulterate copper:Which, as he scatter'd, we, like dolts,Mistook at first for thunderbolts,Before the Drapier shot a letter,(Nor Jove himself could do it better)Which lighting on the impostor's crown,Like real thunder knock'd him down.
into Tartarus by a thunderbolt from Jupiter.--Hyginus, "Fab.""Vidi et crudelis dantem Salmonea poenasDum flammas louis et sonitus imitatur Olympi."VIRG., Aen., vi, 585.
Words in this poem
- coppersmith n.
- One whose occupation is to manufacture copper utensils; a worker in copper.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- vapouring a.
- Talking idly; boasting; vaunting.
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
- angry a.
- Troublesome; vexatious; rigorous. [See Anger.]
- jove n.
- The chief divinity of the ancient Romans; Jupiter. [L. Jupiter, gen. Jovis, OL. Jovis, nom. & gen. for Djovis; akin to E. Tuesday. See Tuesday, and cf. Jupiter.]
- varlet n.
- A servant, especially to a knight; an attendant; a valet; a footman. Spenser. Tusser. [OF. varlet, vaslet, vallet, servant, young man, young noble, dim of vassal. See Vassal, and cf. Valet.]
- thunderbolt n.
- A shaft of lightning; a brilliant stream of electricity passing from one part of the heavens to another, or from the clouds to the earth.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On Wood the Ironmonger. 1725 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 Wood the Ironmonger. 1725, in Cadenus and Vanessa, and Other Poems (1710–1745), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13621, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems/on-wood-the-ironmonger-1725.html, id L09329.
Form and metre
On Wood the Ironmonger. 1725 is 42 lines in 2 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 71% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.7 syllables. 10 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 12% 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 A-BBA-CCAADDEEFFGGHH--III-JJKKLLMMNNOO isA · elis · peepB · sleepB · fellowsA · alehouse · breadC · bedC · deviseA · skiesA · shodD · trodD · carE · afarE · boxF · poxF · marchG · archG · throwH · belowH · laity · deity · townI · downI · inI · sprawling · placeJ · baseJ · blunderK · thunderK · properL · copperL · doltsM · thunderboltsM · letterN · betterN · crownO · downO
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Salmoneus, as the Grecian tale is, | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Was a mad coppersmith of Elis: | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Up at his forge by morning peep, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| No creature in the lane could sleep; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Among a crew of roystering fellows | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Would sit whole evenings at the alehouse; | 9 | ···/˘··/· |
| His wife and children wanted bread, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| While he went always drunk to bed. | 8 | ···/···· |
| This vapouring scab must needs devise | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| To ape the thunder of the skies: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| With brass two fiery steeds he shod, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To make a clattering as they trod, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Of polish'd brass his flaming car | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Like lightning dazzled from afar; | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| And up he mounts into the box, | 8 | ········ |
| And he must thunder, with a pox. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Then furious he begins his march, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| Drives rattling o'er a brazen arch; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| With squibs and crackers arm'd to throw | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Among the trembling crowd below. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| All ran to prayers, both priests and laity, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| To pacify this angry deity; | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| When Jove, in pity to the town, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| With real thunder knock'd him down. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Then what a huge delight were all in, | 9 | ····˘/··· |
| To see the wicked varlet sprawling; | 9 | ···/˘/˘/˘ |
| They search'd his pockets on the place, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And found his copper all was base; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| They laugh'd at such an Irish blunder, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| To take the noise of brass for thunder. | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| The moral of this tale is proper, | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| Applied to Wood's adulterate copper: | 10 | ˘/··˘/˘·/˘ |
| Which, as he scatter'd, we, like dolts, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Mistook at first for thunderbolts, | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| Before the Drapier shot a letter, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| (Nor Jove himself could do it better) | 9 | ··˘/···/˘ |
| Which lighting on the impostor's crown, | 9 | ·/˘··˘/˘· |
| Like real thunder knock'd him down. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| into Tartarus by a thunderbolt from Jupiter.--Hyginus, "Fab." | 17 | ··/˘˘··/˘··/˘···· |
| "Vidi et crudelis dantem Salmonea poenas | 13 | ············· |
| Dum flammas louis et sonitus imitatur Olympi." | 16 | ···/˘··········· |
| VIRG., Aen., vi, 585. | 3 | ··· |
Notes from the edition 1
The notes to the Poems of Jonathan Swift, Volume II (Project Gutenberg #13621).
- Stanza 1, line 1 Who imitated lightning with burning torches and was hurled into Tartarus by a thunderbolt from Jupiter.--Hyginus, "Fab." "Vidi et crudelis dantem Salmonea poenas Dum flammas louis et sonitus imitatur Olympi." VIRG., Aen., vi, 585. And see the Excursus of Heyne on the passage.--W. E. B.
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