Thus the deluded bankrupt raves,
Puts all upon a desperate bet;
Then plunges in the Southern waves,
Dipt over head and ears--in debt.
Although Swift is not known primarily for his verse, much of what makes Swift’s most interesting poetry interesting is the same thing driving interest in his essays and prose: the sharply ironic and satirical perspective of a keen observer of the human race. Few poets would even attempt to transform an economic collapse known as an “investment bubble” bursting into the stuff of poetry. Even fewer could dare hope to be as artistically successful in the attempt as Swift.
At Windsor Swift no sooner can appear,
But St. John comes, and whispers in his ear:
The waiters stand in ranks: the yeomen cry,
Make room, as if a duke were passing by.
The speaker here is actually Jonathan Swift stepping outside himself to comment upon himself from a third person perspective. The Swift whom the poet speaks of glowingly would be someone worth admiration indeed. The problem is the perspective; is the poet writing about Swift being horrifically misunderstood and under-appreciated the same Swift noted for his satire and ironic distance? Or is he just a big fat whiner? Decide for yourself.
But art no longer can prevail,
When the materials all are gone;
The best mechanic hand must fail,
Where nothing's left to work upon.
The art and materials for creating here are specific: cosmetics which “earthy women” use to conceal or disguise their physical imperfections. Swift has a reputation as one of English literature’s greatest misogynists, but he also proves here that he is a great writer of misogyny. Yes, his views should be condemned, but at least he constructs those wildly inappropriate views with great literary skill. That surely has to count for something.
Our great magician, Hamet Sid,
Reverses what the prophet did:
His rod was honest English wood,
That senseless in a corner stood,
This introduction to the title character of the poem sets the stage for a work of verse which is highly representative of Swift’s approach to poetry. At heart, he was definitely not a poet in the traditional sense. Poetry was for Swift a vehicle of transmission. His novels were the equivalent of feature films, his essays were dramatic television and—generally speaking—his poems are sitcoms. The title character here—Sid Hamet—is comedic reinterpretation of Sidney, first earl of Godolphin. And Sidney, first earl of Godolphin was just one in a seemingly never-ending parade of people whom Swift felt did him some type of harm suitably seriously enough to respond to in verse. Much of his poetry follows the lead of this tale of Sid Hamet in that they feature thinly disguised real life figures. The problem, of course, is that the transgressions so important personally to Swift at the time have been mostly forgotten, leaving these transmission of messages to stand on their own without context for the average reader.
