To Dick
Foulest brute that stinks below,Why in this brown dost thou appear?For wouldst thou make a fouler show,Thou must go naked all the year.Fresh from the mud, a wallowing sowWould then be not so brown as thou.
'Tis not the coat that looks so dun,His hide emits a foulness out;Not one jot better looks the sunSeen from behind a dirty clout.So t--ds within a glass enclose,The glass will seem as brown as those.
Thou now one heap of foulness art,All outward and within is foul;Condensed filth in every part,Thy body's clothed like thy soul:Thy soul, which through thy hide of buffScarce glimmers like a dying snuff.
Old carted bawds such garments wear,When pelted all with dirt they shine;Such their exalted bodies are,As shrivell'd and as black as thine.If thou wert in a cart, I fearThou wouldst be pelted worse than they're.
Yet, when we see thee thus array'd,The neighbours think it is but just,That thou shouldst take an honest trade,And weekly carry out the dust.Of cleanly houses who will doubt,When Dick cries "Dust to carry out!"
Words in this poem
- clout n.
- A cloth; a piece of cloth or leather; a patch; a rag. [AS. clut a little cloth, piece of metal; cf. Sw. klut, Icel. klutr a kerchief, or W. clwt a clout, Gael. clud.]
- enclose v. t.
- To inclose. See Inclose. [F. enclos, p. p. of enclore to enclose; pref. en- (L. in) + clore to close. See Close, and cf. Inclose, Include.]
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- cleanly a.
- Habitually clean; pure; innocent. [From Clean.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Dick 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 Dick, in Poems, Volume II (1710–1745), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13621, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems/to-dick.html, id L09342.
Form and metre
To Dick is 30 lines in 5 stanzas of 6 lines each. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABABCC, in 2 of the 5 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 13% 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 ABABAA belowA · appearB · showA · yearB · sowA · thouA
- 2 ABABCC dunA · outB · sunA · cloutB · encloseC · thoseC
- 3 A-A-BB artA · foul · partA · soul · buffB · snuffB
- 4 AB-BAA wearA · shineB · are · thineB · fearA · they'reA
- 5 ABABCC array'dA · justB · tradeA · dustB · doubtC · outC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Foulest brute that stinks below, | 7 | /˘····· |
| Why in this brown dost thou appear? | 8 | ······˘/ |
| For wouldst thou make a fouler show, | 8 | ········ |
| Thou must go naked all the year. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Fresh from the mud, a wallowing sow | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Would then be not so brown as thou. | 8 | ········ |
| 'Tis not the coat that looks so dun, | 8 | ········ |
| His hide emits a foulness out; | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Not one jot better looks the sun | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Seen from behind a dirty clout. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| So t--ds within a glass enclose, | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| The glass will seem as brown as those. | 8 | ········ |
| Thou now one heap of foulness art, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| All outward and within is foul; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Condensed filth in every part, | 8 | ˘/··/˘˘· |
| Thy body's clothed like thy soul: | 8 | ·/˘·˘··· |
| Thy soul, which through thy hide of buff | 8 | ········ |
| Scarce glimmers like a dying snuff. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Old carted bawds such garments wear, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| When pelted all with dirt they shine; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Such their exalted bodies are, | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| As shrivell'd and as black as thine. | 8 | ········ |
| If thou wert in a cart, I fear | 8 | ········ |
| Thou wouldst be pelted worse than they're. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Yet, when we see thee thus array'd, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The neighbours think it is but just, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| That thou shouldst take an honest trade, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And weekly carry out the dust. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Of cleanly houses who will doubt, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| When Dick cries "Dust to carry out!" | 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.