Apollo’s powerful chariot vs. The hackney coach
An incredible sunrise vs. The Ruddy Morn
With these four words, Jonathan Swift is mocking the Greek God Apollo. Apollo is the God of the sun and he is often depicted riding in a spectacular chariot, through the sky, and over the sun. The hackney coach is a carriage that sits six people and it moves because it is being pulled by two horses. This would have been a pretty average sight for people in the 1700s. The ordinary hackney coach represents the impeccable chariot of Apollo. This indicates that Swift is making fun of the sun God. The ruddy morn represents a weak sunrise. Apollo is often shown riding his chariot over an immaculate and powerful sun. This dull sunrise resembles the amazing sunrise that is usually associated with Apollo. Swift has a dull coach appearing as this depressing sun rises and this seems to be another mock image directed at Apollo. Rudy morn is not only an important word because of how it is used to mock Apollo. But, this word begins to set the mood of the poem. The title of the poem allows the reader to understand that the piece will have something to do with the morning, but we do not know what. The word “morning” is in the title and “morn” is the 13th word in the poem. Therefore, these two words could be linked. As stated earlier a rudy morn indicates a crummy and dull morning. This initial mood indicator paints a glum and dreary picture, which gives the reader a hint that the ruddy morn could represent the poem’s underlying mood.
* A smallcoal man, cadence deep, and chimney sweep
These are six crucial words because together, they help to represent the daily grind of this particular morning. The words smallcoal man are basically what they seem, a man that sells small pieces of coal. These pieces of coal were mainly used to light fires. What makes these words important is their association with cadence deep and chimney sweep. Cadence deep is used to describe the noise people heard coming from the man that is selling this coal. He has a deep cry of advertisement. These four words come together with chimney sweep. Chimney sweep is used to describe small boys that worked extremely hard in order to clean a chimney. This would be severe child labor nowadays and this was a dangerous job at such a young age.
1. The more that the smallcoal man’s cries for cadence deep were heard——→the more coal he would sell.
2. The more coal the smallcoal man sold——→ the more money he made.
3. The more coal that the smallcoal man sold——–→ the more fires would be made.
4. The more that fire was made——→ the more dirty chimneys there were.
5. The more dirty chimneys there were——→ the more chimney sweeps had to work.
The smallcoal man, cadence deep, and chimney sweep, all come together to represent the harshness and the grind of this morning. If the smallcoal man wants to make money he in turn creates more work for these young boys. The smallcoal man and the chimney sweeps were both hard workers and the morning was the start of their long, grueling, and tedious day.
Cycles throughout the poem: The youth with broomy stumps
Throughout this poem Swift gives us a series of life cycles. The best example of this would be the words youth with broomy stumps.
Youth is the starting point of life and the beginning of Swift’s cycle and broomy makes us think of a broom, which is one of the most common tools used for labor. Stumps could refer to small broom handles that the children are holding however, these stumps can be looked at from a different perspective. Most of the time, children have short limbs that somewhat resemble stumps. Here, Swift could be implying that the stumps are the children’s limbs. If theses limbs are broomy then maybe that means these arms and legs are meant for labor. The stumps that the children have will eventually evolve into long adult limbs that will probably be used for laboring. The broomy stumps could be Swift’s way of describing the children’s small laboring limbs. The youth with broomy stumps = the children with limbs that will inevitably be used for labor in the near future. Here the cycle is emphasized because these children will eventually become laborers. Once they have children, the new youth will be waiting to turn into laborers and so on.
Children are born——→They become laborers——→Their children are born——→They become laborers—–→and the cycle continues.
This cyclce can be seen again with the smallcoal man and the chimney sweeps. The smallcoal man sells coal, makes money, and then creates more work for the children. This represents another continuous cycle that seems difficult to break. Cycles run our lives and they seem to have a strong presence in Swift’s poem.
* Watchful bailiffs, silent
The society that Swift describes needs a major change. Children are not only working but, working hard. Maids are being bossed around, work is competitive and strenuous on everyone, and people are stealing from each other. Swift focuses on cycles therefore, a change does not seem realistic. Why does it seem like change is so far away? The end of the poem says it all with the silent and watchful bailiffs. Bailiffs are courtroom attendants with a number of duties however, one of their most important jobs is to maintain order in a courtroom. Bailiffs could be Swift’s way of representing the people within this community. If they are silent and watchful then the cycles will continue and change will be difficult. If these bailiffs(people in this society) take an active role then their way of life will change. The second to last line of Swift’s poem says, “The watchful bailiffs take their silent stands.” Swift puts this line towards the end of his poem. This allows the reader to see that the cycles will only continue unless people strive for change and stray from their silent and watchful ways.
Back to A Description of the Morning
Back to Jonathan Swift
References:
1. Astec Industries, Inc. http://www.astecindustries.com/images/photos/Coal_Hands.jpg.
2. Bettmann and Corbis. Occupation, Environment, and Pollution. https://sites.udel.edu/britlitwiki/files//2018/06/scet_03_img0268.jpg
3. British Literature. Volume 1c. The Restoration and the 18th Century. Page 2501.
4. Causey, Linda, https://sites.udel.edu/britlitwiki/files//2018/06/angry_sun.png. 2006
5. Chen, Ingfei. “The sun also heals, some believe.” International Herald Tribune,
August 8, 2002, p. 9.https://sites.udel.edu/britlitwiki/files//2018/06/planet-apollo.gif
6. Jupiter Images. http://images.jupiterimages.com/common/detail/08/42/22964208.jpg. 2007
7. Kumar, Nitin. https://sites.udel.edu/britlitwiki/files//2018/06/ek06.jpg.
8. Symington, Christy https://sites.udel.edu/britlitwiki/files//2018/06/shh.jpg
9. Venne, Jean Louis. https://sites.udel.edu/britlitwiki/files//2018/06/flames.jpg
10. Zullinger, Rebecca, https://sites.udel.edu/britlitwiki/files//2018/06/img_4167_ladies_horse_cart_medium.jpg
