Analysis of On The Moon

Jonathan Swift 1667 (Dublin) – 1745 (Ireland)



I with borrow'd silver shine
What you see is none of mine.
First I show you but a quarter,
Like the bow that guards the Tartar:
Then the half, and then the whole,
Ever dancing round the pole.

What will raise your admiration,
I am not one of God's creation,
But sprung, (and I this truth maintain,)
Like Pallas, from my father's brain.
And after all, I chiefly owe
My beauty to the shades below.
Most wondrous forms you see me wear,
A man, a woman, lion, bear,
A fish, a fowl, a cloud, a field,
All figures Heaven or earth can yield;
Like Daphne sometimes in a tree;
Yet am not one of all you see.


Scheme AABBCC DDEEFFGGHHII
Poetic Form
Metre 111101 1111111 11111010 10111010 1010101 1010101 1111010 111111010 11011101 11011101 01011101 11010101 11011111 01010101 01010101 110101111 11001001 11111111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 587
Words 120
Sentences 6
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 6, 12
Lines Amount 18
Letters per line (avg) 25
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 225
Words per stanza (avg) 59
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

36 sec read
98

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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    The repetition of similar sounds at the ends of words or within words is known as _______.
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