To the Rev. Daniel Jackson
Here I return my trust, nor askOne penny for remittance;If I have well perform'd my task,Pray send me an acquittance.
Too long I bore this weighty pack,As Hercules the sky;Now take him you, Dan Atlas, back,Let me be stander-by.
Not all the witty things you speakIn compass of a day,Not half the puns you make a-week,Should bribe his longer stay.
With me you left him out at nurse,Yet are you not my debtor;For, as he hardly can be worse,I ne'er could make him better.
He rhymes and puns, and puns and rhymes,Just as he did before;And, when he's lash'd a hundred times,He rhymes and puns the more.
When rods are laid on school-boys' bums,The more they frisk and skip:The school-boys' top but louder humsThe more they use the whip.
Thus, a lean beast beneath a load(A beast of Irish breed)Will, in a tedious dirty road,Outgo the prancing steed.
You knock him down and down in vain,And lay him flat before ye,For soon as he gets up again,He'll strut, and cry, Victoria!
At every stroke of mine, he fell,'Tis true he roar'd and cried;But his impenetrable shellCould feel no harm beside.
The tortoise thus, with motion slow,Will clamber up a wall;Yet, senseless to the hardest blow,Gets nothing but a fall.
Dear Dan, then, why should you, or I,Attack his pericrany?And, since it is in vain to try,We'll send him to Delany.
Words in this poem
- remittance n.
- The act of transmitting money, bills, or the like, esp. to a distant place, as in satisfaction of a demand, or in discharge of an obligation.
- acquittance n.
- The clearing off of debt or obligation; a release or discharge from debt or other liability. [OF. aquitance, fr. aquiter. See Acquit.]
- stander n.
- One who stands.
- witty a.
- Possessed of wit; knowing; wise; skillful; judicious; clever; cunning. [AS. witig, wittig. See Wit, n.]
- bribe n.
- A gift begged; a present. [F. bribe a lump of bread, scraps, leavings of meals (that are generally given to a beggar), LL. briba scrap of bread; cf. OF. briber, brifer, to eat gluttonousl]
- outgo v. t.
- To go beyond; to exceed in swiftness; to surpass; to outdo.
- steed n.
- A horse, especially a spirited horse for state of war; -- used chiefly in poetry or stately prose. [OE. stede, AS. steda a stud-horse, war horse, fr. stod a stud of breeding steeds; akin to G. stute a mare, Icel. stedda, sto, a stud. *163. See Stud of horses.]
- clamber v. i.
- To climb with difficulty, or with hands and feet; -- also used figuratively. [OE clambren, clameren, to heap together, climb; akin to Icel. klambra to clamp, G. klammern. Cf. Clamp, Climb.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To the Rev. Daniel Jackson 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 the Rev. Daniel Jackson, in Cadenus and Vanessa, and Other Poems (1710–1745), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13621, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems/to-the-rev-daniel-jackson.html, id L26347.
Form and metre
To the Rev. Daniel Jackson is 44 lines in 11 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 10 of its 11 stanzas. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
See other poems in common measure.
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 askA · remittanceB · taskA · acquittanceB
- 2 ABAB packA · skyB · backA · byB
- 3 ABAB speakA · dayB · weekA · stayB
- 4 ABAB nurseA · debtorB · worseA · betterB
- 5 ABAB rhymesA · beforeB · timesA · moreB
- 6 ABAB bumsA · skipB · humsA · whipB
- 7 ABAB loadA · breedB · roadA · steedB
- 8 A-A- vainA · ye · againA · victoria
- 9 ABAB fellA · criedB · shellA · besideB
- 10 ABAB slowA · wallB · blowA · fallB
- 11 ABAB iA · pericranyB · tryA · delanyB
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Here I return my trust, nor ask | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| One penny for remittance; | 7 | ·/˘·˘/˘ |
| If I have well perform'd my task, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Pray send me an acquittance. | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Too long I bore this weighty pack, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| As Hercules the sky; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Now take him you, Dan Atlas, back, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Let me be stander-by. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Not all the witty things you speak | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| In compass of a day, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Not half the puns you make a-week, | 8 | ········ |
| Should bribe his longer stay. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| With me you left him out at nurse, | 8 | ········ |
| Yet are you not my debtor; | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| For, as he hardly can be worse, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I ne'er could make him better. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| He rhymes and puns, and puns and rhymes, | 8 | ········ |
| Just as he did before; | 6 | ······ |
| And, when he's lash'd a hundred times, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| He rhymes and puns the more. | 6 | ······ |
| When rods are laid on school-boys' bums, | 8 | ········ |
| The more they frisk and skip: | 6 | ······ |
| The school-boys' top but louder hums | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The more they use the whip. | 6 | ······ |
| Thus, a lean beast beneath a load | 8 | ········ |
| (A beast of Irish breed) | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Will, in a tedious dirty road, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Outgo the prancing steed. | 6 | /··/˘· |
| You knock him down and down in vain, | 8 | ········ |
| And lay him flat before ye, | 7 | ······· |
| For soon as he gets up again, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| He'll strut, and cry, Victoria! | 8 | ····˘/˘˘ |
| At every stroke of mine, he fell, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| 'Tis true he roar'd and cried; | 6 | ······ |
| But his impenetrable shell | 8 | ··˘/˘˘˘· |
| Could feel no harm beside. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| The tortoise thus, with motion slow, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Will clamber up a wall; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Yet, senseless to the hardest blow, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Gets nothing but a fall. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Dear Dan, then, why should you, or I, | 8 | ········ |
| Attack his pericrany? | 7 | ˘/····· |
| And, since it is in vain to try, | 8 | ········ |
| We'll send him to Delany. | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
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