To Dean Swift by Sir Arthur Acheson. 1728
Good cause have I to sing and vapour,For I am landlord to the Drapier:He, that of every ear's the charmer,Now condescends to be my farmer,And grace my villa with his strains;Lives such a bard on British plains?No; not in all the British court;For none but witlings there resort,Whose names and works (though dead) are madeImmortal by the Dunciad;And, sure as monument of brass,Their fame to future times shall pass;How, with a weakly warbling tongue,Of brazen knight they vainly sung;A subject for their genius fit;He dares defy both sense and wit.What dares he not? He can, we know it,A laureat make that is no poet;A judge, without the least pretenceTo common law, or common sense;A bishop that is no divine;And coxcombs in red ribbons shine:Nay, he can make, what's greater far,A middle state 'twixt peace and war;And say, there shall; for years together,Be peace and war, and both, and neither.Happy, O Market-Hill! at least,That court and courtiers have no taste:You never else had known the Dean,But, as of old, obscurely lain;All things gone on the same dull track,And Drapier's-Hill been still Drumlack;But now your name with Penshurst vies,And wing'd with fame shall reach the skies.
Words in this poem
- vapour n.
- Any substance in the gaseous, or aëriform, state, the condition of which is ordinarily that of a liquid or solid. [OE. vapour, OF. vapour, vapor, vapeur, F. vapeur, L. vapor; probably for cvapor, and akin to Gr. kvepti to breathe, smell, Russ. kopote fine soot. Cf. Vapid.]
- charmer n.
- One who charms, or has power to charm; one who uses the power of enchantment; a magician. Deut. xviii. 11.
- villa n.
- A country seat; a country or suburban residence of some pretensions to elegance. Dryden. [L. villa, LL. also village, dim. of L. vicus a village: cf. It. & F. villa. See Vicinity, and cf. Vill, Village, Villain.]
- 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,]
- defy v. t.
- To renounce or dissolve all bonds of affiance, faith, or obligation with; to reject, refuse, or renounce. [F. défier, OF. deffier, desfier, LL. disfidare to disown faith or fidelity, to dissolve the bond of allegiance, as between the vassal and his lord; hence, to ch]
- pretence n.
- The act of laying claim; the claim laid; assumption; pretension. [LL. praetensus, for L. praetentus, p. p. of praetendere. See Pretend, and cf. Tension.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Dean Swift by Sir Arthur Acheson. 1728 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, To Dean Swift by Sir Arthur Acheson. 1728, in Cadenus and Vanessa, and Other Poems (1710–1745), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13621, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems/to-dean-swift-by-sir-arthur-acheson-1728.html, id L09281.
Form and metre
To Dean Swift by Sir Arthur Acheson. 1728 is 34 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 6% 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKKLLMMNNOOPPQQ vapourA · drapierA · charmerB · farmerB · strainsC · plainsC · courtD · resortD · madeE · dunciadE · brassF · passF · tongueG · sungG · fitH · witH · itI · poetI · pretenceJ · senseJ · divineK · shineK · farL · warL · togetherM · neitherM · leastN · tasteN · deanO · lainO · trackP · drumlackP · viesQ · skiesQ
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Good cause have I to sing and vapour, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| For I am landlord to the Drapier: | 9 | ···/····· |
| He, that of every ear's the charmer, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Now condescends to be my farmer, | 9 | ··˘/···/˘ |
| And grace my villa with his strains; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Lives such a bard on British plains? | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| No; not in all the British court; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| For none but witlings there resort, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Whose names and works (though dead) are made | 8 | ········ |
| Immortal by the Dunciad; | 7 | ˘/˘···· |
| And, sure as monument of brass, | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| Their fame to future times shall pass; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| How, with a weakly warbling tongue, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Of brazen knight they vainly sung; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| A subject for their genius fit; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| He dares defy both sense and wit. | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| What dares he not? He can, we know it, | 9 | ········· |
| A laureat make that is no poet; | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| A judge, without the least pretence | 8 | ········ |
| To common law, or common sense; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| A bishop that is no divine; | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| And coxcombs in red ribbons shine: | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Nay, he can make, what's greater far, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| A middle state 'twixt peace and war; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And say, there shall; for years together, | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| Be peace and war, and both, and neither. | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Happy, O Market-Hill! at least, | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| That court and courtiers have no taste: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| You never else had known the Dean, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| But, as of old, obscurely lain; | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| All things gone on the same dull track, | 8 | ········ |
| And Drapier's-Hill been still Drumlack; | 8 | ········ |
| But now your name with Penshurst vies, | 8 | ········ |
| And wing'd with fame shall reach the skies. | 8 | ········ |
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.