Peace and Dunkirk
Spite of Dutch friends and English foes,Poor Britain shall have peace at last:Holland got towns, and we got blows;But Dunkirk's ours, we'll hold it fast.We have got it in a string,And the Whigs may all go swing,For among good friends I love to be plain;All their false deluded hopesWill, or ought to end in ropes;"But the Queen shall enjoy her own again."
Sunderland’s run out of his wits,And Dismal double Dismal looks;Wharton can only swear by fits,And strutting Hal is off the hooks;Old Godolphin, full of spleen,Made false moves, and lost his Queen:Harry look'd fierce, and shook his ragged mane:But a Prince of high renownSwore he'd rather lose a crown,"Than the Queen should enjoy her own again."
Our merchant-ships may cut the line,And not be snapt by privateers.And commoners who love good wineWill drink it now as well as peers:Landed men shall have their rent,Yet our stocks rise cent, per cent.The Dutch from hence shall no more millions drain:We'll bring on us no more debts,Nor with bankrupts fill gazettes;"And the Queen shall enjoy her own again."
The towns we took ne'er did us good:What signified the French to beat?We spent our money and our blood,To make the Dutchmen proud and great:But the Lord of Oxford swears,Dunkirk never shall be theirs.The Dutch-hearted Whigs may rail and complain;But true Englishmen may fillA good health to General Hill:"For the Queen now enjoys her own again."
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- ought p. p.
- Was or were under obligation to pay; owed. [Orig. the preterit of the verb to owe. OE. oughte, aughte, ahte, AS. ahte. sq. root110. See Owe.]
- dismal a.
- Fatal; ill-omened; unlucky. [Formerly a noun; e. g., "I trow it was in the dismalle." Chaucer. Of uncertain origin; but perh. (as suggested by Skeat) from OF. disme, F. dîme, tithe, the phr]
- harry v. i.
- To make a predatory incursion; to plunder or lay waste.
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Peace and Dunkirk 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, Peace and Dunkirk, in Cadenus and Vanessa, and Other Poems (1710–1745), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13621, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems/peace-and-dunkirk.html, id L25683.
Form and metre
Peace and Dunkirk is 40 lines in 4 stanzas of 10 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCCDEED. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 11 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 9% 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 ABABCCDEED foesA · lastB · blowsA · fastB · stringC · swingC · plainD · hopesE · ropesE · againD
- 2 ABABCCDEED witsA · looksB · fitsA · hooksB · spleenC · queenC · maneD · renownE · crownE · againD
- 3 ABABCCDEED lineA · privateersB · wineA · peersB · rentC · centC · drainD · debtsE · gazettesE · againD
- 4 ABABCCDEED goodA · beatB · bloodA · greatB · swearsC · theirsC · complainD · fillE · hillE · againD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Spite of Dutch friends and English foes, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Poor Britain shall have peace at last: | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Holland got towns, and we got blows; | 8 | /˘······ |
| But Dunkirk's ours, we'll hold it fast. | 8 | ·/˘/···· |
| We have got it in a string, | 7 | ······· |
| And the Whigs may all go swing, | 7 | ······· |
| For among good friends I love to be plain; | 10 | ·········· |
| All their false deluded hopes | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| Will, or ought to end in ropes; | 7 | ······· |
| "But the Queen shall enjoy her own again." | 10 | ····˘/··˘/ |
| Sunderland’s run out of his wits, | 8 | /˘˘····· |
| And Dismal double Dismal looks; | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Wharton can only swear by fits, | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| And strutting Hal is off the hooks; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Old Godolphin, full of spleen, | 7 | ······· |
| Made false moves, and lost his Queen: | 7 | ······· |
| Harry look'd fierce, and shook his ragged mane: | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| But a Prince of high renown | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Swore he'd rather lose a crown, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| "Than the Queen should enjoy her own again." | 10 | ····˘/··˘/ |
| Our merchant-ships may cut the line, | 8 | //˘····· |
| And not be snapt by privateers. | 8 | ········ |
| And commoners who love good wine | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| Will drink it now as well as peers: | 8 | ········ |
| Landed men shall have their rent, | 7 | /˘····· |
| Yet our stocks rise cent, per cent. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The Dutch from hence shall no more millions drain: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| We'll bring on us no more debts, | 7 | ······· |
| Nor with bankrupts fill gazettes; | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| "And the Queen shall enjoy her own again." | 10 | ····˘/··˘/ |
| The towns we took ne'er did us good: | 8 | ········ |
| What signified the French to beat? | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| We spent our money and our blood, | 8 | ··//˘·/· |
| To make the Dutchmen proud and great: | 8 | ········ |
| But the Lord of Oxford swears, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Dunkirk never shall be theirs. | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| The Dutch-hearted Whigs may rail and complain; | 10 | ··/˘····˘/ |
| But true Englishmen may fill | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| A good health to General Hill: | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| "For the Queen now enjoys her own again." | 10 | ····˘/··˘/ |
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.