The Garden Plot
When Naboth's vineyard look'd so fine,The king cried out, "Would this were mine!"And yet no reason could prevailTo bring the owner to a sale.Jezebel saw, with haughty pride,How Ahab grieved to be denied;And thus accosted him with scorn:"Shall Naboth make a monarch mourn?A king, and weep! The ground's your own;I'll vest the garden in the crown."With that she hatch'd a plot, and madePoor Naboth answer with his head;And when his harmless blood was spilt,The ground became his forfeit guilt.
Words in this poem
- vineyard n.
- An inclosure or yard for grapevines; a plantation of vines producing grapes. [For OE. winyard, AS. wingeard; influenced by E. vine. See Wine, and Yard an inclosure.]
- jezebel n.
- A bold, vicious woman; a termagant. Spectator. [From Jezebel, Heb. Izebel, the wife of Ahab king of Israel.]
- haughty a.
- High; lofty; bold. [OE. hautein, F. hautain, fr. haut high, OF. also halt, fr. L. altus. See Altitude.]
- accosted a.
- Supported on both sides by other charges; also, side by side.
- 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,]
- vest n.
- An article of clothing covering the person; an outer garment; a vestment; a dress; a vesture; a robe. [L. vestis a garment, vesture; akin to Goth. wasti, and E. wear: cf. F. veste. See Wear to carry on the person, and cf. Divest, Invest, Travesty.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Garden Plot 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, The Garden Plot, in Poems, Volume II (1710–1745), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13621, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems/the-garden-plot.html, id L09294.
Form and metre
The Garden Plot is 14 lines in a single stanza. 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 94%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 14% 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 AABBCCDD----EE fineA · mineA · prevailB · saleB · prideC · deniedC · scornD · mournD · own · crown · made · head · spiltE · guiltE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When Naboth's vineyard look'd so fine, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The king cried out, "Would this were mine!" | 8 | ········ |
| And yet no reason could prevail | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| To bring the owner to a sale. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Jezebel saw, with haughty pride, | 8 | /˘˘··/˘· |
| How Ahab grieved to be denied; | 8 | ·/····˘/ |
| And thus accosted him with scorn: | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| "Shall Naboth make a monarch mourn? | 8 | ·····/·· |
| A king, and weep! The ground's your own; | 8 | ········ |
| I'll vest the garden in the crown." | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| With that she hatch'd a plot, and made | 8 | ········ |
| Poor Naboth answer with his head; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And when his harmless blood was spilt, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The ground became his forfeit guilt. | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
Notes from the edition 1
The notes to the Poems of Jonathan Swift, Volume II (Project Gutenberg #13621).
- Line 1 This seems to allude to some oppressive procedure by the Earl of Wharton in relation to Swift's garden, which he called "Naboth's Vineyard," meaning a possession coveted by another person able to possess himself of it (i Kings, chap, xxi, verses 1-10). For some particulars of the garden, see "Prose Works," xi, 415.--W. E. B.
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