Poem of the week: The Day of Judgement by Jonathan Swift | Jonathan Swift

judge's dayement

In a whirlpool of suppressed thoughts,
I sink from daydreaming to rest.
A terrifying vision struck me,
I saw graves dedicated to the dead.
Jove, armed with fear, bursts the sky,
Then thunder roars and lightning flashes.
Surprised and confused, their fate unknown,
The world trembles before his throne.
As the pale sinners bowed their heads,
Jove nodded and shook the heavens and said:
“Attack the human race,
In essence, reason learns blindly.
You who have experienced weakness and turned aside;
And you who were never corrupted by pride.
You who have been humiliated in various sects,
And please come and see each other.
(Some people told you, they knew)
Jobe's demands are no more than you).
The world's crazy business is starting now,
And I no longer resent these pranks.
I gathered my wits against such stupid people!
You idiots — go, go, you're being bitten!

Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) is known and beloved for his prose satires such as The Tub and Gulliver's Travels. However, “prose'' may seem like a boring term for the Anglo-Irishman's virtuosity, his muscular flights of imagination, and his talent for constant reenactment. A dazzle charged with intellectual energy. This argument works the other way around if his prose includes poetry. Swift's poetry is unusually animated by the undertow of realism often associated with prose. Introducing Swift's poetry Regarding the Poetry Foundation, an anonymous critic commented on the poem's overall “low-key” nature and lack of “technical density”, but added: His directness inspires long-term meditations of the highest quality. For these reasons, evaluating Swift for who he is and what he does, one must judge him as a major figure not only in prose but also in poetry. ”For me, Swift packed a complex and responsive self into his poetry, even though he often sided with classical antiquity against modern critical debates. It has become a modern pioneer. In other words, the persona and the living person are fundamentally in contact.

The Day of Judgment begins under the guise of a personal story, perhaps continuing the tradition of dreams and visions, but soon becomes a nightmare as the speaker abandons the “vortex” of thoughts that oppress him and falls asleep. Let's move on to. The reader is immediately drawn into the “terrible scene” of Judgment Day. Of course, Swift would have been familiar with the various Biblical depictions of this scene. Revelation, Chapter 20 Sampleas a general idea.

Jove, also known as Jupiter, was the head of the Roman gods, and by the fortune of being the future abbot of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, his name is associated with the word for God, transliterated as “Jehovah” in Hebrew. Masu. His “fear” is briefly but effectively unleashed by verbs that intimate the battlefield (the “roar” of thunder, the “flies” of lightning). Swift took a fun rebellious approach to using verb tenses in these early couplets. When switching from present to past tense, he continues with past for 5 lines and then immediately switches to present. “Surprising, confused, its fate unknown / The world stands trembling on his throne.” The immensity suggested by “world” brings almost into view the overwhelming enormity of Jove's throne. . However, in the later contrast between the “pale sinner'' who “bows his head'' and Jove, who “shakes the heavens'' with a simple “nod,'' further details emerge.

Jove is the speaker until the end of the poem. His description of humanity suggests one of the moments when Swift surprised himself by agreeing with Thomas Hobbes. leviathanviewed humans as savage species and social products, monsters created by the drive to survive. But Swift refines the very Hobbesian scope of sinners as “innately rational and blindly learned” with figures from his own ethical principles, identifying the culpability of seemingly innocent people. are. Never fell, through pride…”)

After this, Jove seemed to be in a bad mood. Couples 8 and 9 may almost be read as short notes on anti-oppositional discourse. bathtub story. Never losing his power, and his language becoming earthier as his anger grew, Jove added this to the list of those who would be punished forever: / (So some men told you, and they knew / Jove's demands are no more than you.)”

In the final couplet, Jove's thunder and lightning are Swiftian, but have an equally frightening effect. / You fools – go, go, you're being bitten! ” Sinners end up sinning, especially through foolishness. Not only were they “bitten”, they were also beaten and bit the dust. It's a wonderful, sparkling way to end a poem. Swift, the great thunder-and-lightning melody of words, has the final words of immortal comic fury. “You’re being bitten!”