To Dr. Sheridan. 1718
Whate'er your predecessors taught us,I have a great esteem for Plautus;And think your boys may gather there-henceMore wit and humour than from Terence;But as to comic Aristophanes,The rogue too vicious and too profane is.I went in vain to look for EupolisDown in the Strand, just where the New Pole is;For I can tell you one thing, that I can,You will not find it in the Vatican.He and Cratinus used, as Horace says,To take his greatest grandees for asses.Poets, in those days, used to venture high;But these are lost full many a century.Thus you may see, dear friend, ex pede hence,My judgment of the old comedians.Proceed to tragics: first Euripides(An author where I sometimes dip a-days)Is rightly censured by the Stagirite,Who says, his numbers do not fadge aright.A friend of mine that author despisesSo much he swears the very best piece is,For aught he knows, as bad as Thespis's;And that a woman in these tragedies,Commonly speaking, but a sad jade is.At least I'm well assured, that no folk laysThe weight on him they do on Sophocles.But, above all, I prefer Eschylus,Whose moving touches, when they please, kill us.And now I find my Muse but ill able,To hold out longer in trissyllable.I chose those rhymes out for their difficulty;Will you return as hard ones if I call t'ye?
Words in this poem
- humour n.
- Moisture, especially, the moisture or fluid of animal bodies, as the chyle, lymph, etc.; as, the humors of the eye, etc. [OE. humour, OF. humor, umor, F. humeur, L. humor, umor, moisture, fluid, fr. humere, umere, to be moist. See Humid.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- vatican n.
- A magnificent assemblage of buildings at Rome, near the church of St. Peter, including the pope's palace, a museum, a library, a famous chapel, etc. [L. Vaticanus, mons, or collis, Vaticanus, the Vatican hill, in Rome, on the western bank of the Tiber: cf. F. Vatican, It. Vaticano.]
- rightly adv.
- Straightly; directly; in front. [AS. richtlice.]
- stagirite n.
- A native of, or resident in, Stagira, in ancient Macedonia; especially, Aristotle. [Written also Stagyrite.]
- fadge v. i.
- To fit; to suit; to agree. [Cf. OE. faden to flatter, and AS. f to join, unit, G. fügen, or AS. afægian to depict; all perh. form the same root as E. fair. Cf. Fair, a., Fay to fit.]
- aright adv.
- Rightly; correctly; in a right way or form; without mistake or crime; as, to worship God aright. [Pref. a- + right.]
- aught n.
- Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
- 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.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Dr. Sheridan. 1718 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 Dr. Sheridan. 1718, in Cadenus and Vanessa, and Other Poems (1710–1745), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13621, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems/to-dr-sheridan-1718-2.html, id L09395.
Form and metre
To Dr. Sheridan. 1718 is 33 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.6 syllables. 12 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 15% 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 --AABB-BCCBB-----D--DD-DDDD--EE-- us · plautus · henceA · terenceA · aristophanesB · isB · eupolis · isB · canC · vaticanC · saysB · assesB · high · century · hence · comedians · euripides · daysD · stagirite · aright · despisesD · isD · thespis's · tragediesD · isD · laysD · sophoclesD · eschylus · us · ableE · trissyllableE · difficulty · t'ye
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Whate'er your predecessors taught us, | 10 | ˘˘/·/˘·˘·· |
| I have a great esteem for Plautus; | 9 | ····˘/··· |
| And think your boys may gather there-hence | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| More wit and humour than from Terence; | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| But as to comic Aristophanes, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| The rogue too vicious and too profane is. | 10 | ···/˘··˘/· |
| I went in vain to look for Eupolis | 10 | ·········· |
| Down in the Strand, just where the New Pole is; | 10 | ·········· |
| For I can tell you one thing, that I can, | 10 | ·········· |
| You will not find it in the Vatican. | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| He and Cratinus used, as Horace says, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| To take his greatest grandees for asses. | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Poets, in those days, used to venture high; | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| But these are lost full many a century. | 11 | ·····/˘·/˘˘ |
| Thus you may see, dear friend, ex pede hence, | 9 | ········· |
| My judgment of the old comedians. | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘˘ |
| Proceed to tragics: first Euripides | 9 | ˘/·/˘···· |
| (An author where I sometimes dip a-days) | 10 | ·/˘··/···· |
| Is rightly censured by the Stagirite, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘˘ |
| Who says, his numbers do not fadge aright. | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| A friend of mine that author despises | 10 | ·····/˘˘/˘ |
| So much he swears the very best piece is, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| For aught he knows, as bad as Thespis's; | 9 | ········· |
| And that a woman in these tragedies, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘˘ |
| Commonly speaking, but a sad jade is. | 10 | /˘˘/˘····· |
| At least I'm well assured, that no folk lays | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| The weight on him they do on Sophocles. | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| But, above all, I prefer Eschylus, | 10 | ·····˘/··· |
| Whose moving touches, when they please, kill us. | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| And now I find my Muse but ill able, | 10 | ········/˘ |
| To hold out longer in trissyllable. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| I chose those rhymes out for their difficulty; | 11 | ·······/˘·˘ |
| Will you return as hard ones if I call t'ye? | 11 | ··˘/······· |
Notes from the edition 2
The notes to the Poems of Jonathan Swift, Volume II (Project Gutenberg #13621).
- Line 8 N.B.--The Strand in London. The fact may not be true; but the rhyme cost me some trouble.--Swift.
- Line 8 The Maypole. See "The Dunciad," ii, 28. Pope's "Works," Elwin and Courthope, vol. iv.
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