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RPO -- Jonathan Swift : Stella's Birthday March 13, 1719
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Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)

Stella's Birthday March 13, 1719


              1Stella this day is thirty-four,
              2(We shan't dispute a year or more:)
              3However, Stella, be not troubled,
              4Although thy size and years are doubled,
              5Since first I saw thee at sixteen,
              6The brightest virgin on the green;
              7So little is thy form declin'd;
              8Made up so largely in thy mind.

              9      Oh, would it please the gods to split
            10Thy beauty, size, and years, and wit;
            11No age could furnish out a pair
            12Of nymphs so graceful, wise, and fair;
            13With half the lustre of your eyes,
            14With half your wit, your years, and size.
            15And then, before it grew too late,
            16How should I beg of gentle Fate,
            17(That either nymph might have her swain,)
            18To split my worship too in twain.

Notes

1] "Stella" was Swift's name for Miss Hester (Esther) Johnson (1681-1728), to whom Swift addressed his Journal. He was accustomed to send Stella birthday-verses from 1719 until her death. It has been supposed that Swift was secretly married to Stella, but there is no substantial evidence on this point.

5] Swift first met her when he was secretary to Sir William Temple at Moor Park. (In the birthday-poems his references to her age are frequently inaccurate.)

Online text copyright © 2003, Ian Lancashire for the Department of English, University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.

Original text: Miscellanies, I, Vol. 3 (London: B. Notte, 1727). B-12 0241 Fisher Rare Book Library (Toronto).
First publication date: 1727
RPO poem editor: G. G. Falle
RP edition: 3RP 2.65.
Recent editing: 4:2002/5/29

Form: Short Couplets

Other poems by Jonathan Swift

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