Twelve Articles XII
Never will I give advice,Till you please to ask me thrice:Which if you in scorn reject,'Twill be just as I expect.
Thus we both shall have our ends,And continue special friends.
"At Blank-Blank Square;--for we will break no squaresBy naming streets."Don Juan, Canto XIII, st. xxv.
Words in this poem
- expect v. t.
- To wait for; to await. [L. expectatum, to look out for, await, expect; ex + out spectare to look at. See Spectacle.]
- 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,]
- canto n.
- One of the chief divisions of a long poem; a book. [It. canto, fr. L. cantus singing, song. See Chant.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Twelve Articles XII 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, Twelve Articles XII, in Cadenus and Vanessa, and Other Poems (1710–1745), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13621, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems/twelve-articles-xii.html, id L25677.
Form and metre
Twelve Articles XII is 9 lines in 3 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 67% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 86% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.9 syllables. 16 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 12% 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 AABB adviceA · thriceA · rejectB · expectB
- 2 AA endsA · friendsA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Never will I give advice, | 7 | /˘···˘/ |
| Till you please to ask me thrice: | 7 | ······· |
| Which if you in scorn reject, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| 'Twill be just as I expect. | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Thus we both shall have our ends, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And continue special friends. | 7 | ·˘/˘/˘· |
| "At Blank-Blank Square;--for we will break no squares | 10 | ·········· |
| By naming streets." | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Don Juan, Canto XIII, st. xxv. | 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.