{"id":318,"date":"2010-04-04T16:11:20","date_gmt":"2010-04-04T16:11:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/?p=318"},"modified":"2017-07-11T05:01:16","modified_gmt":"2017-07-11T05:01:16","slug":"the-progress-of-poetry-by-jonathan-swift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/the-progress-of-poetry-by-jonathan-swift\/","title":{"rendered":"The Progress of Poetry by Jonathan Swift"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)<\/p>\n

The Progress of Poetry by Jonathan Swift<\/p>\n

The Farmer’s Goose, who in the Stubble,
\nHas fed without Restraint, or Trouble;
\nGrown fat with Corn and Sitting still,
\nCan scarce get o’er the Barn-Door Sill:
\nAnd hardly waddles forth, to cool
\nHer Belly in the neighb’ring Pool:
\nNor loudly cackles at the Door;
\nFor Cackling shews the Goose is poor.<\/p>\n

But when she must be turn’d to graze,
\nAnd round the barren Common strays,
\nHard Exercise, and harder Fare
\nSoon make my Dame grow lank and spare:
\nHer Body light, she tries her Wings,
\nAnd scorns the Ground, and upward springs,
\nWhile all the Parish, as she flies,
\nHear Sounds harmonious from the Skies.<\/p>\n

Such is the Poet, fresh in Pay,
\n(The third Night’s Profits of his Play;)
\nHis Morning-Draughts ’till Noon can swill,
\nAmong his Brethren of the Quill:
\nWith good Roast Beef his Belly full,
\nGrown lazy, foggy, fat, and dull:
\nDeep sunk in Plenty, and Delight,
\nWhat Poet e’er could take his Flight?
\nOr stuff’d with Phlegm up to the Throat,
\nWhat Poet e’er could sing a Note?
\nNor Pegasus could bear the Load,
\nAlong the high celestial Road;
\nThe Steed, oppress’d, would break his Girth,
\nTo raise the Lumber from the Earth.<\/p>\n

But, view him in another Scene,
\nWhen all his Drink is Hippocrene,
\nHis Money spent, his Patrons fail,
\nHis Credit out for Cheese and Ale;
\nHis Two-Year’s Coat so smooth and bare,
\nThrough ev’ry Thread it lets in Air;
\nWith hungry Meals his Body pin’d,
\nHis Guts and Belly full of Wind;
\nAnd, like a Jockey for a Race,
\nHis Flesh brought down to Flying-Case:
\nNow his exalted Spirit loaths
\nIncumbrances of Food and Cloaths;
\nAnd up he rises like a Vapour,
\nSupported high on Wings of Paper;
\nHe singing flies, and flying sings,
\nWhile from below all Grub-street rings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,6,424],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1600s","category-1700s","category-poems-about-poetry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t