Sid Hamet's Rod
Poor Hall, renown'd for comely hair,Whose hands, perhaps, were not so fair,Yet had a Jezebel as near;Hall, of small scripture conversation,Yet, howe'er Hungerford's quotation,By some strange accident had gotThe story of this garden-plot;--Wiselyforesaw he might have reasonTo dread a modern bill of treason,If Jezebel should please to wantHis small addition to her grant:Therefore resolved, in humble sort,To begin first, and make his court;And, seeing nothing else would do,Gave a third part, to save the other two.
Words in this poem
- jezebel n.
- A bold, vicious woman; a termagant. Spectator. [From Jezebel, Heb. Izebel, the wife of Ahab king of Israel.]
- quotation n.
- The act of quoting or citing. [From Quote.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sid Hamet's Rod 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, Sid Hamet's Rod, in Poems, Volume II (1710–1745), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13621, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems/sid-hamet-s-rod.html, id L09295.
Form and metre
Sid Hamet's Rod is 15 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 67% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.4 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 27% 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 AAABB--CC--DDEE hairA · fairA · nearA · conversationB · quotationB · got · wisely · reasonC · treasonC · want · grant · sortD · courtD · doE · twoE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Poor Hall, renown'd for comely hair, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Whose hands, perhaps, were not so fair, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Yet had a Jezebel as near; | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| Hall, of small scripture conversation, | 9 | ···/˘·˘/˘ |
| Yet, howe'er Hungerford's quotation, | 9 | ···/˘˘˘/˘ |
| By some strange accident had got | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| The story of this garden-plot;--Wisely | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·/˘ |
| foresaw he might have reason | 7 | ·/···/˘ |
| To dread a modern bill of treason, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| If Jezebel should please to want | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| His small addition to her grant: | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Therefore resolved, in humble sort, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| To begin first, and make his court; | 8 | ·˘/····· |
| And, seeing nothing else would do, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Gave a third part, to save the other two. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
Notes from the edition 1
The notes to the Poems of Jonathan Swift, Volume II (Project Gutenberg #13621).
- Line 5 Probably John Hungerford, a member of the October Club. "Prose Works," v, 209.--W. E. B.
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