Social Commentaries
A Portrait from the Life
Social Commentaries
Come sit by my side, while this picture I draw:
In chattering a magpie, in pride a jackdaw;
A temper the devil himself could not bridle;
Impertinent mixture of busy and idle;
As rude as a bear, no mule half so crabbed;
She swills like a sow, and she breeds like a rabbit;
A housewife in bed, at table a slattern;
For all an example, for no one a pattern.
Now tell me, friend Thomas, Ford, Grattan, and Merry Dan,
Has this any likeness to good Madam Sheridan?
Cite this poem
MLA
Swift, Jonathan. “A Portrait from the Life.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/swift/311/.
Chicago
Swift, Jonathan. “A Portrait from the Life.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/swift/311/.
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