The Run upon the Bankers
The bold encroachers on the deepGain by degrees huge tracts of land,Till Neptune, with one general sweep,Turns all again to barren strand.
The multitude's capricious pranksAre said to represent the seas,Breaking the bankers and the banks,Resume their own whene'er they please.
Money, the life-blood of the nation,Corrupts and stagnates in the veins,Unless a proper circulationIts motion and its heat maintains.
Because 'tis lordly not to pay,Quakers and aldermen in state,Like peers, have levees every dayOf duns attending at their gate.
We want our money on the nail;The banker's ruin'd if he pays:They seem to act an ancient tale;The birds are met to strip the jays.
"Riches," the wisest monarch sings,"Make pinions for themselves to fly;"They fly like bats on parchment wings,And geese their silver plumes supply.
No money left for squandering heirs!Bills turn the lenders into debtors:The wish of Nero now is theirs,"That they had never known their letters."
Conceive the works of midnight hags,Tormenting fools behind their backs:Thus bankers, o'er their bills and bags,Sit squeezing images of wax.
Conceive the whole enchantment broke;The witches left in open air,With power no more than other folk,Exposed with all their magic ware.
So powerful are a banker's bills,Where creditors demand their due;They break up counters, doors, and tills,And leave the empty chests in view.
Thus when an earthquake lets in lightUpon the god of gold and hell,Unable to endure the sight,He hides within his darkest cell.
As when a conjurer takes a leaseFrom Satan for a term of years,The tenant's in a dismal case,Whene'er the bloody bond appears.
A baited banker thus desponds,From his own hand foresees his fall,They have his soul, who have his bonds;'Tis like the writing on the wall.
How will the caitiff wretch be scared,When first he finds himself awakeAt the last trumpet, unprepared,And all his grand account to make!
For in that universal call,Few bankers will to heaven be mounters;They'll cry, "Ye shops, upon us fall!Conceal and cover us, ye counters!"
When other hands the scales shall hold,And they, in men's and angels' sightProduced with all their bills and gold,"Weigh'd in the balance and found light!"
Words in this poem
- resume n.
- A summing up; a condensed statement; an abridgment or brief recapitulation. [F. See Resume.]
- nero n.
- A Roman emperor notorius for debauchery and barbarous cruelty; hence, any profligate and cruel ruler or merciless tyrant.
- backs n.
- Among leather dealers, the thickest and stoutest tanned hides.
- squeezing n.
- The act of pressing; compression; oppression.
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- folk n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- 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]
- caitiff a.
- Captive; wretched; unfortunate. [OE. caitif, cheitif, captive, miserable, OF. caitif, chaitif, captive, mean, wretched, F. chétif, fr. L. captivus captive, fr. capere to take, akin to E. heave.]
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Run upon the Bankers 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 Run upon the Bankers, in Cadenus and Vanessa, and Other Poems (1710–1745), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13621, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems/the-run-upon-the-bankers.html, id L25690.
Form and metre
The Run upon the Bankers is 64 lines in 16 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.3 syllables. 20 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 ABAB deepA · landB · sweepA · strandB
- 2 ABAB pranksA · seasB · banksA · pleaseB
- 3 ABAB nationA · veinsB · circulationA · maintainsB
- 4 ABAB payA · stateB · dayA · gateB
- 5 ABAB nailA · paysB · taleA · jaysB
- 6 ABAB singsA · flyB · wingsA · supplyB
- 7 ABAB heirsA · debtorsB · theirsA · lettersB
- 8 ABAB hagsA · backsB · bagsA · waxB
- 9 ABAB brokeA · airB · folkA · wareB
- 10 ABAB billsA · dueB · tillsA · viewB
- 11 ABAB lightA · hellB · sightA · cellB
- 12 ABAB leaseA · yearsB · caseA · appearsB
- 13 ABAB despondsA · fallB · bondsA · wallB
- 14 ABAB scaredA · awakeB · unpreparedA · makeB
- 15 ABAB callA · mountersB · fallA · countersB
- 16 ABAB holdA · sightB · goldA · lightB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The bold encroachers on the deep | 8 | ········ |
| Gain by degrees huge tracts of land, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Till Neptune, with one general sweep, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Turns all again to barren strand. | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| The multitude's capricious pranks | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Are said to represent the seas, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Breaking the bankers and the banks, | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Resume their own whene'er they please. | 9 | ˘/······· |
| Money, the life-blood of the nation, | 9 | /˘·····/˘ |
| Corrupts and stagnates in the veins, | 8 | ˘/·/···· |
| Unless a proper circulation | 9 | ···/˘/˘·˘ |
| Its motion and its heat maintains. | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Because 'tis lordly not to pay, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Quakers and aldermen in state, | 8 | /˘·/˘˘·· |
| Like peers, have levees every day | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Of duns attending at their gate. | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| We want our money on the nail; | 8 | ··//˘··· |
| The banker's ruin'd if he pays: | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| They seem to act an ancient tale; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The birds are met to strip the jays. | 8 | ········ |
| "Riches," the wisest monarch sings, | 8 | /˘·/˘/·· |
| "Make pinions for themselves to fly;" | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| They fly like bats on parchment wings, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And geese their silver plumes supply. | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| No money left for squandering heirs! | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Bills turn the lenders into debtors: | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| The wish of Nero now is theirs, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| "That they had never known their letters." | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Conceive the works of midnight hags, | 8 | ˘/···/·· |
| Tormenting fools behind their backs: | 8 | /·˘····· |
| Thus bankers, o'er their bills and bags, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Sit squeezing images of wax. | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘·· |
| Conceive the whole enchantment broke; | 8 | ˘/··˘/˘· |
| The witches left in open air, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| With power no more than other folk, | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| Exposed with all their magic ware. | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| So powerful are a banker's bills, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Where creditors demand their due; | 8 | ·/˘˘˘/·· |
| They break up counters, doors, and tills, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And leave the empty chests in view. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Thus when an earthquake lets in light | 8 | ···/···· |
| Upon the god of gold and hell, | 8 | ········ |
| Unable to endure the sight, | 8 | ˘/˘·˘/·· |
| He hides within his darkest cell. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| As when a conjurer takes a lease | 9 | ···˘/˘··· |
| From Satan for a term of years, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The tenant's in a dismal case, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Whene'er the bloody bond appears. | 9 | ····/˘·˘/ |
| A baited banker thus desponds, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| From his own hand foresees his fall, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| They have his soul, who have his bonds; | 8 | ········ |
| 'Tis like the writing on the wall. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| How will the caitiff wretch be scared, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| When first he finds himself awake | 8 | ····˘/˘/ |
| At the last trumpet, unprepared, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| And all his grand account to make! | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| For in that universal call, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Few bankers will to heaven be mounters; | 9 | ·/˘··/··· |
| They'll cry, "Ye shops, upon us fall! | 8 | ········ |
| Conceal and cover us, ye counters!" | 9 | ˘/·/˘··/˘ |
| When other hands the scales shall hold, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And they, in men's and angels' sight | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Produced with all their bills and gold, | 8 | ˘/······ |
| "Weigh'd in the balance and found light!" | 8 | ···/˘··· |
Notes from the edition 3
The notes to the Poems of Jonathan Swift, Volume II (Project Gutenberg #13621).
- Stanza 6, line 2 Solomon, Proverbs, ch. xxiii, v. 5.
- Stanza 7, line 3 Who, in his early days of empire, having to sign the sentence of a condemned criminal, exclaimed: "Quam vellem nescire litteras!" Suetonius, 10; and Seneca, "De Clementia,", cited by Montaigne, "De l'inconstance de nos actions."--W. E. B.
- Stanza 13, line 4 Daniel, ch. v, verses 25, 26, 27, 28.--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.