The Judge Speaks
I'm not the grandson of that ass Quin;Nor can you prove it, Mr. Pasquin.My grandame had gallants by twenties,And bore my mother by a 'prentice.This when my grandsire knew, they tell us heIn Christ-Church cut his throat for jealousy.And, since the alderman was mad you say,Then I must be so too, ex traduce.
Words in this poem
- quin n.
- A European scallop (Pecten opercularis), used as food. [Prov.
- pasquin n.
- A lampooner; also, a lampoon. See Pasquinade. [It. pasquino a mutilated statue at Rome, set up against the wall of the place of the Orsini; -- so called from a witty cobbler or tailor, near whose shop the st]
- grandsire n.
- Specifically, a grandfather; more generally, any ancestor. [OF. grantsire. See Grand, and Sire.]
- alderman n.
- A senior or superior; a person of rank or dignity. [AS. aldormon, ealdorman; ealdor an elder + man. See Elder, n.]
- traduce v. t.
- To transfer; to transmit; to hand down; as, to traduce mental qualities to one's descendants. Glanvill. [L. traducere, traductum, to lead across, lead along, exhibit as a spectacle, disgrace, transfer, derive; trans across, over + ducere to lead: cf. F. traduire to]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Judge Speaks 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 Judge Speaks, in Cadenus and Vanessa, and Other Poems (1710–1745), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13621, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems/the-judge-speaks.html, id L09334.
Form and metre
The Judge Speaks is 8 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.1 syllables. 4 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 iambic pentameter.
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 AA------ quinA · pasquinA · twenties · prentice · he · jealousy · say · traduce
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I'm not the grandson of that ass Quin; | 9 | ···/····· |
| Nor can you prove it, Mr. Pasquin. | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| My grandame had gallants by twenties, | 9 | ····/˘·/˘ |
| And bore my mother by a 'prentice. | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| This when my grandsire knew, they tell us he | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| In Christ-Church cut his throat for jealousy. | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| And, since the alderman was mad you say, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Then I must be so too, ex traduce. | 9 | ·······˘/ |
Notes from the edition 1
The notes to the Poems of Jonathan Swift, Volume II (Project Gutenberg #13621).
- Line 1 Alderman Quin, the judge's maternal grandfather, who cut his throat in church.--W. E. B.
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.