Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, VANBRUGH'S HOUSE; BUILT FROM THE RUINS OF WHITEHALL, by JONATHAN SWIFT


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

VANBRUGH'S HOUSE; BUILT FROM THE RUINS OF WHITEHALL, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: In times of old, when time was young
Last Line: They from its ruins build their own.'
Subject(s): Houses; Vanbrugh, Sir John (1664-1726)


In times of old, when time was young,
And poets their own verses sung,
A verse could draw a stone or beam,
That now would overload a team;
Lead 'em a dance of many a mile,
Then rear 'em to a goodly pile.
Each number had its different power;
Heroic strains could build a tower;
Sonnets, or elegies to Chloris,
Might raise a house about two storeys;
A lyric ode would slate; a catch
Would tile; an epigram would thatch.
But, to their own, or landlord's cost,
Now poets feel this art is lost;
Not one of all our tuneful throng
Can raise a lodging for a song.
For Jove considered well the case;
Observed they grew a numerous race,
And should they build as fast as write,
'Twould ruin undertakers quite.
This evil, therefore to prevent,
He wisely changed their element:
On earth, the god of wealth was made
Sole patron of the building trade,
Leaving the wits the spacious air,
With licence to build castles there:
And 'tis conceived their old pretence
To lodge in garrets, comes from thence.
Premising thus in modern way
The better half we have to say;
Sing muse, the house of poet Van
In higher strains then we began.
Van (for 'tis fit the reader know it)
Is both a herald and a poet;
No wonder then, if nicely skilled
In both capacities to build.
As herald, he can in a day
Repair a house gone to decay;
Or by achievement, arms, device,
Erect a new one in a trice.
And as a poet, he has skill
To build in speculation still.
'Great Jove!' he cried, 'the art restore
To build by verse as heretofore;
And make my muse the architect;
What palaces shall we erect!
No longer shall forsaken Thames
Lament his old Whitehall in flames:
A pile shall from its ashes rise
Fit to invade, or prop the skies.'
Jove smiled, and like a gentle god,
Consenting with his usual nod,
Told Van he knew his talent best,
And left the choice to his own breast.
So Van resolved to write a farce;
But well perceiving wit was scarce,
With cunning that defect supplies;
Takes a French play as lawful prize;
Steals thence his plot, and every joke,
Not once suspecting Jove would smoke;
And (like a wag) sat down to write,
Would whisper to himself, 'A bite.'
Then from this motley mingled style
Proceeded to erect his pile.
So men of old, to gain renown, did
Build Babel with their tongues confounded.
Jove saw the cheat, but thought it best
To turn the matter to a jest:
Down from Olympus top he slides,
Laughing as if he'd burst his sides:
'Ay,' thought the god, 'are these your tricks?
Why then, old plays deserve old bricks,
And since you're sparing of your stuff,
Your building shall be small enough.'
He spake, and grudging lent his aid;
The experienced bricks that knew their trade
(As being bricks at second hand)
Now move, and now in order stand.
The building, as the poet writ,
Rose in proportion to his wit:
And first the prologue built a wall
So wide as to encompass all.
The scene, a wood, produced no more
Than a few scrubby trees before.
The plot as yet lay deep, and so
A cellar next was dug below:
But this a work so hard was found,
Two acts it cost him underground.
Two other acts we may presume
Were spent in building each a room:
Thus far advanced, he made a shift
To raise a roof with act the fift.
The epilogue behind, did frame
A place not decent here to name.
Now poets from all quarters ran
To see the house of brother Van:
Looked high and low, walked often round,
But no such house was to be found:
One asks the waterman hard by,
'Where may the poet's palace lie?'
Another, of the Thames inquires,
If he has seen its gilded spires?
At length they in the rubbish spy
A thing resembling a goose-pie:
Thither in haste the poets throng,
And gaze in silent wonder long;
Till one in raptures thus began
To praise the pile, and builder Van.
'Thrice happy poet, who may trail
Thy house about thee, like a snail;
Or harnessed to a nag, at ease,
Take journeys in it like a chaise;
Or in a boat, whene'er thou wilt
Canst make it serve thee for a tilt.
Capacious house! 'tis owned by all,
Thou'rt well contrived, though thou art small;
For every wit in Britain's isle
May lodge within thy spacious pile.
Like Bacchus thou, as poets feign,
Thy mother burnt, art born again;
Born like a Phoenix from the flame,
But neither bulk nor shape the same:
As animals of largest size
Corrupt to maggots, worms and flies.
A type of modern wit and style,
The rubbish of an ancient pile.
So chemists boast, they have a power
From the dead ashes of a flower
Some faint resemblance to produce;
But not the virtue, taste, or juice.
So modern rhymers wisely blast
The poetry of ages past,
Which after they have overthrown,
They from its ruins build their own.'





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