Upon His Incomparable Verses. By Dr. Delany in Sheridan's Name
Hail, human compound quadrifarious,Invincible as wight Briareus!Hail! doubly-doubled mighty merry one,Stronger than triple-bodied Geryon!O may your vastness deign t' excuseThe praises of a puny Muse,Unable, in her utmost flight,To reach thy huge colossian height!T' attempt to write like thee were frantic,Whose lines are, like thyself, gigantic.Yet let me bless, in humbler strain,Thy vast, thy bold Cambysian vein,Pour'd out t' enrich thy native isle,As Egypt wont to be with Nile.O, how I joy to see thee wander,In many a winding loose meander,In circling mazes, smooth and supple,And ending in a clink quadruple;Loud, yet agreeable withal,Like rivers rattling in their fall!Thine, sure, is poetry divine,Where wit and majesty combine;Where every line, as huge as seven,If stretch'd in length, would reach to Heaven:Here all comparing would be slandering,The least is more than Alexandrine.Against thy verse Time sees with pain,He whets his envious scythe in vain;For though from thee he much may pare,Yet much thou still wilt have to spare.Thou hast alone the skill to feastWith Roman elegance of taste,Who hast of rhymes as vast resourcesAs Pompey's caterer of courses.O thou, of all the Nine inspired!My languid soul, with teaching tired,How is it raptured, when it thinksOf thy harmonious set of chinks;Each answering each in various rhymes,Like echo to St. Patrick's chimes!Thy Muse, majestic in her rage,Moves like Statira on the stage;And scarcely can one page sustainThe length of such a flowing train:Her train of variegated dyeShows like Thaumantia's in the sky;Alike they glow, alike they please,Alike imprest by Phoebus' rays.Thy verse--(Ye Gods! I cannot bear it)To what, to what shall I compare it?'Tis like, what I have oft heard spoke on,The famous statue of Laocoon.'Tis like,--O yes, 'tis very like it,The long, long string, with which you fly kite.'Tis like what you, and one or two more,Roar to your Echo in good humour;And every couplet thou hast writConcludes with Rhattah-whittah-whit.
"Aen.," vi, 287; also called Aegaeon, "centum cui brachia dicunt," Virg.,
"maxumus ultorTergemini nece Geryonae spoliisque superbusAlcides aderat taurosque hac victor agebat
Words in this poem 18
- quadrifarious a.
- Arranged in four rows or ranks; as, quadrifarious leaves. [L. quadrifarius fourfold, fr. quattuor four: cf. F. quadrifarié. Cf. Multifarious.]
- wight n.
- A whit; a bit; a jot. [OE. wight, wiht, a wight, a whit, AS. wiht, wuht, a creature, a thing; skin to D. wicht a child, OS. & OHG. wiht a creature, thing, G. wicht a creature, Icel. v]
- deign v. t.
- To esteem worthy; to consider worth notice; -- opposed to disdain. [OE. deinen, deignen, OF. degner, deigner, daigner, F. daigner, fr. L. dignari to deem worthy, deign, fr. dignus worthy; akin to decere to be fitting. See Decent]
- puny a.
- Imperfectly developed in size or vigor; small and feeble; inferior; petty. [F. puîté younger, later born, OF. puisné; puis afterwards (L. post; see Post-) + né born, L. natus. See Natal, and cf. Puisne.]
- humbler n.
- One who, or that which, humbles some one.
- isle v. t.
- To cause to become an island, or like an island; to surround or encompass; to island.
- clink v. t.
- To cause to give out a slight, sharp, tinkling, sound, as by striking metallic or other sonorous bodies together. [OE. clinken; akin to G. klingen, D. klinken, SW. klinga, Dan. klinge; prob. of imitative origin. Cf. Clank, Clench, Click, v. i.]
- withal adv.
- With this; with that. [With + all.]
- alexandrine a.
- Belonging to Alexandria; Alexandrian. Bancroft.
- envious a.
- Malignant; mischievous; spiteful. [OF. envios, F. envieux, fr. L. invidiosus, fr. invidia envy. See Envy, and cf. Invidious.]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- caterer n.
- One who caters.
- imprest v. t.
- To advance on loan. Burke. [Pref. im- + prest: cf. It. imprestare. See Prest, n.]
- 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,]
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- laocoon n.
- A priest of Apollo, during the Trojan war. (See 2.)
- 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.]
- couplet n.
- Two taken together; a pair or couple; especially two lines of verse that rhyme with each other. [F. couplet, dim. of couple. See Couple, n.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Upon His Incomparable Verses. By Dr. Delany in Sheridan's Name 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, Upon His Incomparable Verses. By Dr. Delany in Sheridan's Name, in Cadenus and Vanessa, and Other Poems (1710–1745), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13621, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems/upon-his-incomparable-verses-by-dr-delany-in-sheridan-s-name.html, id L09404.
Form and metre
Upon His Incomparable Verses. By Dr. Delany in Sheridan's Name is 62 lines in 3 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 55% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.7 syllables. 15 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 16% 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 ------AABBCCDD--DDDDEEEE-EEEFF----GGHHIIJJKKLL------M---MM quadrifarious · briareus · one · geryon · excuse · muse · flightA · heightA · franticB · giganticB · strainC · veinC · isleD · nileD · wander · meander · suppleD · quadrupleD · withalD · fallD · divineE · combineE · sevenE · heavenE · slandering · alexandrineE · painE · vainE · pareF · spareF · feast · taste · resources · courses · inspiredG · tiredG · thinksH · chinksH · rhymesI · chimesI · rageJ · stageJ · sustainK · trainK · dyeL · skyL · please · rays · it · it · on · laocoon · itM · kite · more · humour · writM · whitM
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Hail, human compound quadrifarious, | 9 | ·/˘/˘···· |
| Invincible as wight Briareus! | 8 | ˘/˘˘···· |
| Hail! doubly-doubled mighty merry one, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| Stronger than triple-bodied Geryon! | 9 | /˘·/˘/˘·· |
| O may your vastness deign t' excuse | 9 | ···/˘··˘/ |
| The praises of a puny Muse, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Unable, in her utmost flight, | 8 | ˘/˘··/·· |
| To reach thy huge colossian height! | 8 | ········ |
| T' attempt to write like thee were frantic, | 10 | ·˘/·····/˘ |
| Whose lines are, like thyself, gigantic. | 9 | ····˘/˘/˘ |
| Yet let me bless, in humbler strain, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Thy vast, thy bold Cambysian vein, | 8 | ········ |
| Pour'd out t' enrich thy native isle, | 9 | ···˘/·/˘· |
| As Egypt wont to be with Nile. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| O, how I joy to see thee wander, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| In many a winding loose meander, | 9 | ·/·/˘·˘/˘ |
| In circling mazes, smooth and supple, | 9 | ·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| And ending in a clink quadruple; | 9 | ·/˘···˘/˘ |
| Loud, yet agreeable withal, | 8 | ··˘/˘˘˘/ |
| Like rivers rattling in their fall! | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Thine, sure, is poetry divine, | 8 | ···/˘˘˘/ |
| Where wit and majesty combine; | 8 | ···/˘˘˘/ |
| Where every line, as huge as seven, | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| If stretch'd in length, would reach to Heaven: | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Here all comparing would be slandering, | 9 | ··˘/˘··/˘ |
| The least is more than Alexandrine. | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| Against thy verse Time sees with pain, | 8 | ········ |
| He whets his envious scythe in vain; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| For though from thee he much may pare, | 8 | ········ |
| Yet much thou still wilt have to spare. | 8 | ········ |
| Thou hast alone the skill to feast | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| With Roman elegance of taste, | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘·· |
| Who hast of rhymes as vast resources | 9 | ······/˘˘ |
| As Pompey's caterer of courses. | 9 | ·/˘/˘˘·/˘ |
| O thou, of all the Nine inspired! | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| My languid soul, with teaching tired, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| How is it raptured, when it thinks | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Of thy harmonious set of chinks; | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Each answering each in various rhymes, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Like echo to St. Patrick's chimes! | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Thy Muse, majestic in her rage, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Moves like Statira on the stage; | 8 | ········ |
| And scarcely can one page sustain | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| The length of such a flowing train: | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Her train of variegated dye | 8 | ···/˘˘˘· |
| Shows like Thaumantia's in the sky; | 8 | ········ |
| Alike they glow, alike they please, | 8 | ˘/··˘/·· |
| Alike imprest by Phoebus' rays. | 8 | ˘/˘/·/˘· |
| Thy verse--(Ye Gods! I cannot bear it) | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| To what, to what shall I compare it? | 9 | ······˘/· |
| 'Tis like, what I have oft heard spoke on, | 9 | ········· |
| The famous statue of Laocoon. | 8 | ·/˘/···· |
| 'Tis like,--O yes, 'tis very like it, | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| The long, long string, with which you fly kite. | 9 | ········· |
| 'Tis like what you, and one or two more, | 9 | ········· |
| Roar to your Echo in good humour; | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| And every couplet thou hast writ | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Concludes with Rhattah-whittah-whit. | 8 | ˘/······ |
| "Aen.," vi, 287; also called Aegaeon, "centum cui brachia dicunt," Virg., | 16 | ··/˘···/˘·/˘˘··· |
| "maxumus ultor | 5 | ····· |
| Tergemini nece Geryonae spoliisque superbus | 12 | ············ |
| Alcides aderat taurosque hac victor agebat | 13 | /·······/˘··· |
Notes from the edition 7
The notes to the Poems of Jonathan Swift, Volume II (Project Gutenberg #13621).
- Stanza 1, line 2 The hundred-armed giant, "centumgeminus Briareus," Virg., "Aen.," vi, 287; also called Aegaeon, "centum cui brachia dicunt," Virg., "Aen.," x, 565; see Heyne's notes.--W. E. B.
- Stanza 1, line 4 A mythic king, having three bodies, whose arms were carried off by Hercules.--Lucr., v, 28, and Munro's note; Virg. "Aen.," vii, 662, and viii, 202:
- Stanza 1, line 12 Cambyses, the warrior king of Persia, whose name is the emblem of bravado.--W. E. B.
- Stanza 1, line 42 Represented as the perfection of female beauty in "Cassandra," a romance by La Calprenède, romancier et auteur dramatique, 1610-1663,--Larousse.--W. E. B.
- Stanza 1, line 46 Iris, daughter of Thaumas, and the messenger of Juno, descending and returning on the rainbow.--W. E. B.
- Stanza 1, line 56 At Gaulstown there is so famous an echo, that if you repeat two lines of Virgil out of a speaking-trumpet, you may hear the nymph return them to your ear with great propriety and clearness.--F.
- Stanza 1, line 58 These words allude to their amusements with the echo, having no other signification but to express the sound of stones when beaten one against the other, returned by the echo.--F.
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