Verses Of The Death Of Jonathan Swift Analysis

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The poem Verses of the Death of Dr. Swift, D. S. P. D. was written by Jonathan Swift to tell what he believed his friends and foes would say about him after he died. This poem was originally written with the intention of being published after he had died, however it was published while he was still alive. Swift uses iambic tetrameter and many instances of caesura to stress the meaning and feeling of his poem. In lines 147-164, Swift writes about the moment he, the Dean of St. Patrick’s, Dublin, dies and how the public will react when they hear the news. The section is written with quotation marks at the beginning and end to express that what is being written is being spoken. There are several different speakers in this section, evident by …show more content…
There are a few exceptions for this though. For example, “O, may we all for death prepare!” (line 153) begins with a stressed syllable on the word “O” that is emphasized by the comma directly following it. Because of this, the line starts with a trochee as opposed to the three feet that follow, which are iambs. Another example of special instances in the format of this section of the poem would be the couplets of 155 and 156 and lines 161 and 162. These sets of lines each display nine syllables as opposed to the eight displayed in the lines of the rest of the poem. For example, “I know no more than what the news is,/ ‘Tis all bequeathed to public uses” (lines 155-156). These lines, which speak about what the Dean did with his belongings, each have nine syllables, causing the lines to end with an unstressed syllable as opposed to a stressed one. Ending a poetic line with an unstressed syllable is known as feminine, or French, rhyme. This effects the line causing it to end on a weaker note than a line ending with a stressed syllable would. Even with the weaker ending, these lines are emphasized because the tone created is one almost of pity and shows how the people will

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