The Full Text of “A Satirical Elegy on the Death of a Late Famous General”
1His Grace! impossible! what dead!
2Of old age too, and in his bed!
3And could that mighty warrior fall?
4And so inglorious, after all!
5Well, since he's gone, no matter how,
6The last loud trump must wake him now:
7And, trust me, as the noise grows stronger,
8He'd wish to sleep a little longer.
9And could he be indeed so old
10As by the newspapers we're told?
11Threescore, I think, is pretty high;
12'Twas time in conscience he should die
13This world he cumbered long enough;
14He burnt his candle to the snuff;
15And that's the reason, some folks think,
16He left behind so great a stink.
17Behold his funeral appears,
18Nor widow's sighs, nor orphan's tears,
19Wont at such times each heart to pierce,
20Attend the progress of his hearse.
21But what of that, his friends may say,
22He had those honours in his day.
23True to his profit and his pride,
24He made them weep before he died.
25Come hither, all ye empty things,
26Ye bubbles raised by breath of kings;
27Who float upon the tide of state,
28Come hither, and behold your fate.
29Let pride be taught by this rebuke,
30How very mean a thing's a Duke;
31From all his ill-got honours flung,
32Turned to that dirt from whence he sprung.
-
“A Satirical Elegy on the Death of a Late Famous General” Introduction
-
Jonathan Swift, best known as the writer of Gulliver's Travels, wrote "A Satirical Elegy on the Death of a Late Famous General" in 1722 after the death of John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough. Swift was not a fan of the general, so the poem depicts him—with characteristically sharp Swiftian wit—as arrogant, power-hungry, brutal, and corrupt. In targeting Churchill, the poem critiques power, corruption, and cruelty more generally. It also presents death as the great leveler, warning all those who take "pride" in their high status that death will catch them before too long.
-
-
“A Satirical Elegy on the Death of a Late Famous General” Summary
-
What, the general? No way—he can't be dead! Surely he didn't die of old age in his sleep? How could such a great soldier die in such a dishonorable way? Oh well, now he's gone, and never mind how. He'll be woken by the trumpets of the rapture (when the dead will be judged and go either to hell or heaven)—and as the trumpet-blast gets louder, he'll be better off staying dead. Was he really as old as the newspapers say? Sixty is a ripe old age—it was about time he died and stopped burdening this world. The candle of his life burned down to the very end—and that's why some people think he caused such a stink (the charred base of a candle smells bad). Look at his funeral: no lamenting widow or troubled children, the usual sad sights at a funeral, follow his coffin. Who cares, his friends might say, he was honored while he was alive. Always prioritizing his wealth and his ego, he made his loved ones cry before he died.
Gather around, all you false, hollow people—who float on the tides of society like bubbles blown by kings—and see what destiny holds for you in the end. Arrogant people should take a lesson from how petty and insignificant this Duke looks now. He's far away from all his unethically acquired honors, buried in the muddy earth he came from.
-
-
“A Satirical Elegy on the Death of a Late Famous General” Themes
-
Power, Hubris, and Cruelty
As promised by the title, "A Satirical Elegy on the Death of a Late Famous General" mocks those who attach too much importance to their own lives—particularly cruel people in positions of power. The speaker eulogizes a "Famous General," a.k.a. the "Duke" (based on the real-life John Churchill, the Duke of Marlborough), a man treated as high and mighty in his lifetime. But the elegy reframes the Duke as a vain, corrupt little man, who, as worm food in the "dirt," has been restored to his rightful place in the world. The General may have frightened people when he was alive, but his abuse of others catches up with him in death. No one really mourns the General, and, in the speaker's view, he will be banished to Hell when God's final judgment comes (at the end of the world). What the powerful think of themselves, then, rarely reflects the truth. In fact, leaders with delusions of grandeur are burdens on humanity—and their deaths are cause for relief, not grief.
Powerful people like the General, the poem suggests, give in to hubris, believing themselves far more important and worthy of success than others. The Duke considered himself a "mighty warrior." Full of "pride," he saw his fame as proof of his self-worth. But the Duke's power was a "bubble[] raised by breath of kings"; his supposedly honorable career "float[ed] upon the tide of state." In other words, he was in the right place at the right time, chosen for his position by the whims of the king—not necessarily because he was truly great.
Even as the General cherished an inflated opinion of himself, he treated others with cruel disdain. Vanity and hubris, the poem suggests, made him ungenerous and downright brutal. His "honours" were "ill-got"—that is, acquired unethically. His "pride" in himself was misplaced, his "profit" unearned. Worse, his power made him mean-spirited: he made "widow[]" and "orphan[]" alike "weep before he died." It seems he terrorized his own family—and as a general, he was in the killing business, so he certainly wrecked other people's families. Even though he believed himself important, then, the General "cumbered," or burdened, "This world." He made the earth a worse place to live, but his vanity prevented him from seeing himself as others saw him.
Now that the General's dead, people are free of his tyranny. His death reveals his true reputation as a lonely, arrogant tyrant. According to the speaker, "Some folks think" the General's legacy is no more than a "great [...] stink." Just because he was powerful doesn't mean he made the world a better place: quite the opposite, in fact. At his funeral, there are no "widow's sighs, nor orphans' tears"; even his own family doesn't mourn his passing. Everyone, including the speaker, is glad to see him gone. He spent his life constructing a delusional self-image—as powerful people often do, the poem implies. More broadly, the poem suggests that the General had his priorities all wrong, prizing false acclaim and bullying swagger over meaningful relationships with other human beings. He thought he was an important, mighty figure, but he was nothing more than a "bubble" and a burden.
- See where this theme is active in the poem.
-
Death and Impermanence
"A Satirical Elegy on the Death of a Late Famous General" presents death as the great leveler. People like the General assume they lead earth-shaking lives, Swift implies, but death ultimately reduces them to dust, just as it does everyone else. Power, military honors, fame: all seem significant in life but mean nothing in the grave. People who chase status become morally "empty"—and fail to realize they, like the rest of humanity, are temporary and fragile.
Elegies usually construct an image of the dead that shows how important they were to others. But as a satire, this elegy does the opposite, wittily mocking the General and all he stood for. Like many "Famous" people, the General believed himself to be a great man, and presumably felt he would leave a lasting legacy. But while the newspapers cover his death, as he would have expected, they also reveal that he was "old[er]" than the speaker guessed—perhaps older than his powerful public image led people to believe. In fact, the speaker feigns surprise at the news that he was mortal: "And could that mighty warrior fall? / And so inglorious, after all?" The General thought his high status made him practically invincible—and he may have seemed that way even to skeptics.
But in reality, death comes for everyone, making a special mockery of those who think they're more important than others. The speaker calls on "all ye empty things" to "behold your fate." By "empty things," the poem means self-important, hollow people who cherish honors, power, and fame. He especially mocks status-chasers "Who float upon the tide of state"—that is, people who secure powerful positions by ingratiating themselves with someone more powerful (in this case, the King). Even though the General, as a Duke, holds one of the highest inherited titles in the land (also unearned!), the speaker sees him as "mean" man. In other words, he's petty and insignificant, and no dubious honor can change that.
The Duke's death serves as a lesson that everyone will "turn[] to that dirt from whence [they've] sprung." His life, beliefs, and undeserved power all fade into insignificance. Indeed, few modern readers would know who the Duke was or what he achieved. Everyone and everything, then, comes from nothingness and, before long, returns to nothingness. Death tracks down everyone, no matter how much worldly status they rightly or wrongly achieve.
- See where this theme is active in the poem.
-
-
Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “A Satirical Elegy on the Death of a Late Famous General”
-
Lines 1-4
His Grace! impossible! what dead!
Of old age too, and in his bed!
And could that mighty warrior fall?
And so inglorious, after all!The poem opens with pure sarcasm, as the speaker feigns surprise upon hearing of "the Death of a Late Famous General." The General in question is John Churchill, the first Duke of Marlborough (1650-1722), a longtime political rival of Swift and a regular target of his criticism.
Take a closer look at the title: Swift announces his poem's intentions right up top. This is both a satire and an elegy: an unusual combination of genres. On the one hand, it commemorates a person's death (elegy); on the other hand, it mocks its subject (satire). Swift also refuses to name his subject, the "General," directly. His audience would have understood who he was writing about, but by leaving the Duke unnamed, Swift undermines him—setting up the claim that the dead man has already faded into deserved insignificance.
In the opening lines, the speaker pretends to be shocked, shocked:
His Grace! impossible! what dead!
Of old age too, and in his bed!The short, sharp phrases convey this false surprise (one can almost imagine a cup of tea being spilled on the table). The speaker doesn't really think it's impossible that the Duke has died—spoiler alert: everyone dies!—but the Duke had such a high opinion of himself that he might have believed himself immortal.
There's nothing unusual about dying of "old age" in bed, either, but it's hardly the heroic death of a great soldier. The speaker makes this point explicitly in lines 3-4:
And could that mighty warrior fall?
And so inglorious, after all!Could such a brave, "mighty" general really die? Or was he not so brave and mighty after all? The speaker implies that, if he were really a noble fighter, he would have died a noble death on a battlefield somewhere. Dying at home in bed suggests comfort, even luxury. The speaker frames this as an "inglorious" loss of honor. The poem's just getting started, but is satire already stings.
These lines also establish the poem's meter (iambic tetrameter) and rhyme scheme (rhymed couplets). A line of iambic tetrameter has four iambs, or metrical feet that run unstressed-stressed (da-DUM). Line 2 shows this pattern clearly:
Of old | age too, | and in | his bed!
Meanwhile, each successive pair of lines rhymes: "dead"/"bed," "fall"/"all," and so on. Even this pattern may be a subtle joke at the Duke's expense. When iambic pentameter (five metrical feet) rhymes in paired lines, the result is known as heroic couplets. Poets have often used this form in epic poetry or other poetry involving a "heroic" story. By cutting a foot off the pentameter but keeping the rhyme scheme, Swift undermines the Duke's supposed heroism.
-
Lines 5-8
Well, since he's gone, no matter how,
The last loud trump must wake him now:
And, trust me, as the noise grows stronger,
He'd wish to sleep a little longer.
Unlock all 353 words of this analysis of Lines 5-8 of “A Satirical Elegy on the Death of a Late Famous General,” and get the Line-by-Line Analysis for every poem we cover.
Plus so much more...
Get LitCharts A+ -
Lines 9-16
And could he be indeed so old
As by the newspapers we're told?
Threescore, I think, is pretty high;
'Twas time in conscience he should die
This world he cumbered long enough;
He burnt his candle to the snuff;
And that's the reason, some folks think,
He left behind so great a stink. -
Lines 17-20
Behold his funeral appears,
Nor widow's sighs, nor orphan's tears,
Wont at such times each heart to pierce,
Attend the progress of his hearse. -
Lines 21-24
But what of that, his friends may say,
He had those honours in his day.
True to his profit and his pride,
He made them weep before he died. -
Lines 25-28
Come hither, all ye empty things,
Ye bubbles raised by breath of kings;
Who float upon the tide of state,
Come hither, and behold your fate. -
Lines 29-32
Let pride be taught by this rebuke,
How very mean a thing's a Duke;
From all his ill-got honours flung,
Turned to that dirt from whence he sprung.
-
-
“A Satirical Elegy on the Death of a Late Famous General” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
-
Alliteration
The poem uses alliteration both for emphasis and to echo the meanings of particular lines.
Lines 6-8, for example, depict the Duke sleeping the sleep of death. According to the Christian tradition, God will one day send all people (living or dead) either to Hell or Heaven. Trumpets will herald the arrival of this Judgment Day, and in the speaker's opinion, it won't be a pleasant moment for the General:
The last loud trump must wake him now:
And, trust me, as the noise grows stronger,
He'd wish to sleep a little longer.The /l/ and /tr/ alliteration makes the language more emphatic, as if to evoke the fateful trumpet blast.
Later, the speaker mentions that "some folks" believe the Duke "left behind so great a stink." The sibilance here suggests a hiss of scorn (try saying it out loud and exaggerating the sound). That satisfying sound makes the comment all the more cutting.
Alliteration also appears in the speaker's criticism of the Duke's profiteering:
True to his profit and his pride,
He made them weep before he died.Aligning these two /pr/ words suggests how interrelated "pride" and "profit" are. The Duke's arrogance was proportionate to his vast—and, in the speaker's view, undeserved—fortune.
The speaker feels that the Duke gained his fortune through the favor of the powerful and the exploitation of the powerless; there was no real merit to it. The Duke and people like him are just "bubbles raised by breath of kings" (note the consonance in the first word here). These plosive /b/ sounds mimic the exact motion one uses to blow a "bubble[]"; they also force one to expel a puff of "breath." Once again, alliteration matches sound with description.
- See where this poetic device appears in the poem.
-
Allusion
Unlock all 301 words of this analysis of Allusion in “A Satirical Elegy on the Death of a Late Famous General,” and get the poetic device analyses for every poem we cover.
Plus so much more...
Get LitCharts A+ -
Apostrophe
-
Metaphor
-
Repetition
-
-
“A Satirical Elegy on the Death of a Late Famous General” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- His Grace
- Inglorious
- Trump
- Threescore
- In conscience
- Cumbered
- Snuff
- Wont
- Hearse
- Hither
- Ye
- State
- Rebuke
- Duke
- Ill-got
- Flung
- Sprung
- From whence
His Grace-
An honorary title used to refer to a duke (similar to "His Majesty" for a king).
- See where this vocabulary word appears in the poem.
-
Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “A Satirical Elegy on the Death of a Late Famous General”
-
Form
"A Satirical Elegy on the Death of a Late Famous General" has two stanzas of unequal length. The first is twenty-four lines long, while the second is eight. The stanza break marks the point at which the poem's scope broadens—becoming not just about the Duke, but about shallow and power-hungry people in general.
The poem also announces two elements of its form in its title: this is a "Satirical Elegy." Both satire and elegy are poetic modes with a very long history. Western satire originates in the literature of ancient Rome (and, to an extent, Greece), and it has different subtypes. Swift's poem is closest to the Juvenalian style, named after the poet Juvenal. Essentially, this means it prioritizes anger over humor; it's full of sarcasm and bite.
Elegies, on the other hand, usually honor the life of their subject. These are poems of deep reflection, nearly always written in tribute to someone who's died (though ancient elegies sometimes took up other somber subjects). Of course, that's the exact opposite of this speaker's aim. Swift turns the conventional elegy on its head, ridiculing the dead man's faults and practically dancing on his grave.
-
Meter
Swift's "Satirical Elegy" uses iambic tetrameter—that is, four iambs per line. (An iamb is a metrical foot with two syllables that run unstressed-stressed: da-DUM). Here's how this pattern sounds in lines 25-26, for example:
Come hith- | er, all | ye emp- | ty things,
Ye bub- | bles raised | by breath | of kings;The meter keeps the poem's pace brisk and light—indeed, it doesn't sound like a typical elegy at all. But it's a perfect vehicle for Swift's satire.
Notice that the speaker uses rhyming couplets throughout. If the meter were iambic pentameter—five feet rather than four—these would qualify as heroic couplets, a form often found in epic/narrative poetry. By snipping off that last foot, Swift might be hinting that the Duke wasn't as heroic and brave as he seemed.
-
Rhyme Scheme
The poem uses rhyming couplets from start to finish, running AABBCCDDEEFF, etc. The rhymes provide both momentum and lightness—after all, the speaker doesn't really view this as a solemn occasion! A man has died, but it's a man the speaker despised. Couplets make the poem's attack more cutting and memorable.
The use of rhyming pairs gestures towards the heroic couplet form: rhymed couplets of iambic pentameter. The use of tetrameter—four metrical feet per line rather than five—might imply that the Duke doesn't quite measure up to hero status.
-
-
“A Satirical Elegy on the Death of a Late Famous General” Speaker
-
"A Satirical Elegy on the Death of a Late Famous General" has a first-person speaker, who announces their attention right in the title: to satirize the Duke of Malborough and all he stood for. The speaker reveals little about themselves, choosing to focus on the Duke instead. It's safe to say, though, that the speaker despised the dead man. The poem's casual, flippant tone—as in line 5: "Well, since he's gone, no matter how"—tells the reader that the speaker won't be shedding any tears.
In the first stanza, the speaker feigns surprise at the Duke's death before criticizing him for his arrogance, selfishness, greed, and cruelty. In the second stanza, the speaker addresses all those who might emulate the Duke, warning them that their status-chasing will be pointless in the end.
There's no real difference between the speaker's view and the poet's. Swift saw the Duke as a malign influence on England and its people, a man unworthy of the honors bestowed on him. (This isn't the only Swift poem that takes aim at the Duke.) It was fairly common for prominent people of the Augustan era to attack each other in writing when they disagreed.
-
-
“A Satirical Elegy on the Death of a Late Famous General” Setting
-
The poem has an implied historical setting, which for Jonathan Swift was simply his everyday world. Though it doesn't name its target, this "Satirical Elegy" is aimed at John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, an English general and statesman who died in 1722. Hence, the poem is set in the UK of the early 18th century, during what's now known as the Augustan Age. It reflects the social and political sphere of that time: the opening lines could almost be part of a conversation, as the speaker learns that the Duke is dead. The poem also mentions "newspapers" in line 10, reinforcing the sense that the speaker is responding to the headline news of the day.
However, the poem doesn't have a clearly defined physical setting. It's more of a commentary on the Duke's life than a vivid portrait of a place or era. This approach broadens the poem's appeal beyond its historical moment: while it certainly has a particular individual in its sights, its criticisms could also apply to vain celebrities and warmongers of other times and places.
-
-
Literary and Historical Context of “A Satirical Elegy on the Death of a Late Famous General”
Literary Context
Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) is best known for his works of satirical prose, including Gulliver's Travels and "A Modest Proposal." Swift was also a poet and political pamphleteer who, along with his friend Alexander Pope, became a major literary figure of the Augustan era. It was a golden age of satire, and Swift was one of its leading lights.
Like other writers of this era, Swift was deeply influenced by the literature of ancient Rome. As a satirist, he took his cues from Roman poets like Horace and Juvenal. This poem displays the influence of the latter: Juvenalian satire tends to be less gentle and more angry than Horatian. Swift mocked a variety of contemporary people and subjects throughout his career, often publishing under pseudonyms (e.g., "Isaac Bickerstaff") in magazines like The Examiner.
This poem was written after the death of John Churchill, the Duke of Marlborough, in 1722, and later published in Swift's 1765 Works. At the time it was written, it would have been distributed privately, copied and passed around by those who felt similarly about the Duke. Swift considered the Duke to be an opportunist warmonger who exploited his position to enrich himself and gain more power. He wrote numerous texts (not all poems) about the Duke, including "The Fable of Midas," "A Fable of the Widow and Her Cat," and The Conduct of the Allies. His "Elegy" was partly a reaction to other writers' fawning tributes to the Duke.
Historical Context
Jonathan Swift attended Trinity College, Dublin, received a Master of Arts degree from Oxford, and was eventually ordained as an Anglican priest. He served as the Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin and is sometimes referred to as "Dean Swift."
Swift was a key intellectual figure in the Augustan era, which looked nostalgically on ancient Greece and Rome as cultural, political, and social models. This was also the so-called Age of Enlightenment, which championed the rational scientific method and empirical knowledge.
The era brought great political tension, in England at least. Swift, a Tory, and the Duke, a Whig, stood on either side of the political divide. Whigs and Tories had many disagreements, but an important one in this context concerned the War of the Spanish Succession. Charles II, the King of Spain (and the Spanish Empire), died in 1700 without an heir, leaving behind a power vacuum across Europe. John Churchill, the Duke of Marlborough, was the commander of the English (and later British) forces, so he played a major role in the ensuing conflict. As Swift saw it, the Duke pushed for and prolonged war with France for his own "profit." He criticized the Duke heavily during the Duke's lifetime and felt no pity when "His Grace" left "This world" in 1722. However, not all historians agree with Swift's scathing assessment of the Duke; some consider him one of the greatest military leaders in England's history.
-
More “A Satirical Elegy on the Death of a Late Famous General” Resources
-
External Resources
-
Swift's Life and Work — Learn more about Jonathan Swift in this biography from the Poetry Foundation.
-
The Augustan Age — Listen to a documentary about the literature of the 18th-century Augustan Age, with particular focus on Swift and Alexander Pope.
-
Swift and the Duke — Read an article about the poet's main gripes with the General in question.
-
A Man of Letters — Dive into Swift's correspondence, including with his fellow poet Alexander Pope.
-
The "Elegy" Aloud — Listen to a reading of the poem.
-
-
LitCharts on Other Poems by Jonathan Swift
-
