Will Wood's Petition to the People of Ireland
My dear Irish folks,Come leave off your jokes,And buy up my halfpence so fine;So fair and so brightThey'll give you delight;Observe how they glisten and shine!
They'll sell to my griefAs cheap as neck-beef,For counters at cards to your wife;And every dayYour children may playSpan-farthing or toss on the knife.
Come hither and try,I'll teach you to buyA pot of good ale for a farthing;Come, threepence a score,I ask you no more,And a fig for the Drapier and Harding.
When tradesmen have gold,The thief will be bold,By day and by night for to rob him:My copper is such,No robber will touch,And so you may daintily bob him.
The little blackguardWho gets very hardHis halfpence for cleaning your shoes:When his pockets are cramm'dWith mine, and be d--d,He may swear he has nothing to lose.
Here's halfpence in plenty,For one you'll have twenty,Though thousands are not worth a pudden.Your neighbours will think,When your pocket cries chink.You are grown plaguy rich on a sudden.
You will be my thankers,I'll make you my bankers,As good as Ben Burton or Fade;For nothing shall passBut my pretty brass,And then you'll be all of a trade.
I'm a son of a whoreIf I have a word moreTo say in this wretched condition.If my coin will not pass,I must die like an ass;And so I conclude my petition.
Words in this poem
- folks 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.]
- threepence n.
- A small silver coin of three times the value of a penny. [Eng.]
- daintily adv.
- In a dainty manner; nicely; scrupulously; fastidiously; deliciously; prettily.
- plaguy a.
- Vexatious; troublesome; tormenting; as, a plaguy horse.
- 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,]
- whore n.
- A woman who practices unlawful sexual commerce with men, especially one who prostitutes her body for hire; a prostitute; a harlot. Wyclif. [OE. hore, AS. h; akin to D. hoer, hoere, G. hure, OHG. huora, huorra, Icel. h, Dan. hore, Sw. hora, Goth. h an adulterer, AS. h adultery, OHG. huor, and probabl]
- conclude v. t.
- To shut up; to inclose. [L. concludere, conclusum; con- + claudere to shut. See Close, v. t.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Will Wood's Petition to the People of Ireland 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, Will Wood's Petition to the People of Ireland, in Poems, Volume II (1710–1745), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13621, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems/will-wood-s-petition-to-the-people-of-ireland.html, id L09330.
Form and metre
Will Wood's Petition to the People of Ireland is 48 lines in 8 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABCCB, complete in 6 of its 8 stanzas. The metre is anapaestic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.5 syllables. 9 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 23% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in anapaestic dimeter.
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 AABCCB folksA · jokesA · fineB · brightC · delightC · shineB
- 2 AABCCB griefA · beefA · wifeB · dayC · playC · knifeB
- 3 AA-BB- tryA · buyA · farthing · scoreB · moreB · harding
- 4 AABCCB goldA · boldA · himB · suchC · touchC · himB
- 5 AAB--B blackguardA · hardA · shoesB · cramm'd · d · loseB
- 6 AABCCB plentyA · twentyA · puddenB · thinkC · chinkC · suddenB
- 7 AABCCB thankersA · bankersA · fadeB · passC · brassC · tradeB
- 8 AABCCB whoreA · moreA · conditionB · passC · assC · petitionB
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 anapaestic dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| My dear Irish folks, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Come leave off your jokes, | 5 | ····· |
| And buy up my halfpence so fine; | 8 | ········ |
| So fair and so bright | 5 | ····· |
| They'll give you delight; | 5 | ···˘/ |
| Observe how they glisten and shine! | 8 | ˘/··/˘·· |
| They'll sell to my grief | 5 | ····· |
| As cheap as neck-beef, | 5 | ····· |
| For counters at cards to your wife; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And every day | 5 | ·/˘˘· |
| Your children may play | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Span-farthing or toss on the knife. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Come hither and try, | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| I'll teach you to buy | 5 | ····· |
| A pot of good ale for a farthing; | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Come, threepence a score, | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| I ask you no more, | 5 | ····· |
| And a fig for the Drapier and Harding. | 10 | ········/˘ |
| When tradesmen have gold, | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| The thief will be bold, | 5 | ····· |
| By day and by night for to rob him: | 9 | ········· |
| My copper is such, | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| No robber will touch, | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| And so you may daintily bob him. | 9 | ····/˘˘·· |
| The little blackguard | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| Who gets very hard | 5 | ··/˘· |
| His halfpence for cleaning your shoes: | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| When his pockets are cramm'd | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| With mine, and be d--d, | 6 | ······ |
| He may swear he has nothing to lose. | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Here's halfpence in plenty, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| For one you'll have twenty, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Though thousands are not worth a pudden. | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Your neighbours will think, | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| When your pocket cries chink. | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| You are grown plaguy rich on a sudden. | 10 | ···/˘···/˘ |
| You will be my thankers, | 6 | ······ |
| I'll make you my bankers, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| As good as Ben Burton or Fade; | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| For nothing shall pass | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| But my pretty brass, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| And then you'll be all of a trade. | 8 | ········ |
| I'm a son of a whore | 6 | ······ |
| If I have a word more | 6 | ······ |
| To say in this wretched condition. | 9 | ····/˘˘/˘ |
| If my coin will not pass, | 6 | ······ |
| I must die like an ass; | 6 | ······ |
| And so I conclude my petition. | 9 | ···˘/·˘/˘ |
Notes from the edition 2
The notes to the Poems of Jonathan Swift, Volume II (Project Gutenberg #13621).
- Stanza 3, line 6 The Drapier's printer.
- Stanza 7, line 3 Two famous bankers.
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.