The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (1907–21).
Volume IX. From Steele and Addison to Pope and Swift.
§ 20. Swifts Verse
Swift’s poetry has the merits of his prose, but not many other merits. He began by writing frigid “Pindaric” odes, after the fashion of Cowley, and, from his letters, we know that he set considerable value on them, and that they underwent much revision. But Dryden was right when, after perusing some of these verses, he said, “Cousin Swift, you will never be a poet.” This comment caused much annoyance to Swift, as we may conclude from the hostile references to Dryden in several of his writings. It was, however, taken to heart; for he produced no more stilted odes, but, in future, confined himself to lighter verse, modelled on Butler, and generally of a satirical nature. One of the earliest and most attractive of his playful pieces, the graceful Baucis and Philemon, was published, with the pretty verses On Mrs. Biddy Floyd, in the last volume of Tonson’s Miscellany (1709). In other pieces, A Description of a City Shower and A Description of the Morning, published in The Tatler, the subject is treated purely from a humorous and satirical point of view. Among his later works, The Grand Question debated (1729), with its studies of Lady Acheson and of her maid, Hannah, is altogether delightful.
In two pieces written in imitation of Horace (1713–14), Swift described, in felicitous words, his friendship with Harley, and gave some account of his own feelings before and after he was appointed to the deanery of St. Patrick’s. Harley saw Swift “cheapening old authors on a stall”
The famous Cadenus and Vanessa (1713) gives, in a mock classical setting, Swift’s account of his acquaintance with Hester Vanhomrigh, and of his surprise and distress at finding her in love with him. Vanessa scorned fops and fine ladies; at length, she met the dean,
As this poem was preserved by Hester Vanhomrigh, we may assume that she did not think Swift had done her injustice in the clever apology for his own conduct. As in the case of the correspondence, it is pleasant to turn from the verses about Vanessa to the pieces which Swift wrote year by year on Stella’s birthday. With laughing allusions to her advancing years (when she was thirty-eight, he wrote “Stella this day is thirty-four (We shan’t dispute a year or more)”), he dwells on her wit and the lustre of her eyes. Hers was “an angel’s face a little cracked,” with an angel’s mind. He “ne’er admitted Love a guest”; having Stella for his friend, he sought no more. She nursed him in his illness, coming to his relief “with cheerful face and inward grief.”