Analysis of On Ink

Jonathan Swift 1667 (Dublin) – 1745 (Ireland)



I am jet black, as you may see,
The son of pitch and gloomy night:
Yet all that know me will agree,
I'm dead except I live in light.

Sometimes in panegyric high,
Like lofty Pindar, I can soar;
And raise a virgin to the sky,
Or sink her to a pocky whore.

My blood this day is very sweet,
To-morrow of a bitter juice;
Like milk, 'tis cried about the street,
And so applied to different use.

Most wondrous is my magic power:
For with one colour I can paint;
I'll make the devil a saint this hour,
Next make a devil of a saint.

Through distant regions I can fly,
Provide me but with paper wings;
And fairly show a reason why
There should be quarrels among kings:

And, after all, you'll think it odd,
When learned doctors will dispute,
That I should point the word of God,
And show where they can best confute.

Let lawyers bawl and strain their throats:
'Tis I that must the lands convey,
And strip their clients to their coats;
Nay, give their very souls away.


Scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH CICI JXJB KLKL
Poetic Form Quatrain 
Metre 11111111 01110101 11111101 11011101 01011 1101111 01010101 1101011 11111101 11010101 11110101 010111001 110111010 1111111 1101001110 11010101 11010111 01111101 01010101 11110011 01011111 1110101 11110111 0111111 11010111 11110101 01110111 11110101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 937
Words 186
Sentences 7
Stanzas 7
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 28
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 105
Words per stanza (avg) 26
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 19, 2023

56 sec read
76

Jonathan Swift

Jonathan Swift was an Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer, poet and cleric who became Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin. more…

All Jonathan Swift poems | Jonathan Swift Books

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