Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO MR. LEMUEL GULLIVER, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: To thee, we wretches of the houyhnhnm band
Last Line: Houyhnhnm.
Subject(s): Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745)


(THE GRATEFUL ADDRESS OF THE UNHAPPY HOUYHNHNMS, NOW
IN SLAVERY AND BONDAGE IN ENGLAND)

To thee, we Wretches of the Houyhnhnm Band,
Condemn'd to labour in a barb'rous Land,
Return our Thanks. Accept our humble Lays,
And let each grateful Houyhnhnm neigh thy Praise.

O happy Yahoo, purg'd from human Crimes,
By thy sweet Sojourn in those virtuous Climes,
Where reign our Sires! There, to thy Countrey's Shame,
Reason, you found, and Virtue were the same.
Their Precepts raz'd the Prejudice of Youth,
And even a Yahoo learn'd the Love of Truth.

Art thou the first who did the Coast explore;
Did never Yahoo tread that Ground before?
Yes, Thousands. But in Pity to their Kind,
Or sway'd by Envy, or through Pride of Mind,
They hid their Knowledge of a nobler Race,
Which own'd, would all their Sires and Sons disgrace.

You, like the Samian, visit Lands unknown,
And by their wiser Morals mend your own.
Thus Orpheus travell'd to reform his Kind,
Came back, and tam'd the Brutes he left behind.

You went, you saw, you heard: With Virtue fraught,
Then spread those Morals which the Houyhnhnms taught.
Our Labours here must touch thy gen'rous Heart,
To see us strain before the Coach and Cart;
Compell'd to run each knavish Jockey's Heat!
Subservient to New-market's annual cheat!
With what Reluctance do we Lawyers bear,
To fleece their Countrey Clients twice a Year?
Or manag'd in your Schools, for Fops to ride,
How foam, how fret beneath a Load of Pride!
Yes, we are slaves -- but yet, by Reason's Force,
Have learnt to bear Misfortune, like a Horse.

O would the Stars, to ease my Bonds, ordain,
That gentle Gulliver might guide my Rein!
Safe would I bear him to his Journey's End,
For 'tis a Pleasure to support a Friend.
But if my Life be doom'd to serve the Bad,
O! may'st thou never want an easy Pad!
Houyhnhnm.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net