"A Description of a City Shower" is a 1710 poem by

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...

poet

Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish Satire, satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whig (British political party), Whigs, then for the Tories (British political party), Tories), poe ...

. First appearing in the ''

Tatler ''Tatler'' is a British magazine published by Condé Nast Publications focusing on fashion and lifestyle, as well as coverage of high society and politics. It is targeted towards the British upper-middle class and upper class, and those interes ...

'' magazine in October of that same year, the poem was considered his best poem. Swift agreed: "They think 'tis the best thing I ever wrote, and I think so too".Fairer; Gerrard, p. 74 Bonamy Dobrée found it (and Swift's other ''Tatler'' verse, "

A Description of the Morning "A Description of the Morning" is a poem by Anglo-Irish poet Jonathan Swift, written in 1709. The poem discusses contemporary topics, including the social state of London at the time of the writing, as well as the developing of commerce and busines ...

") "emancipatory, defiantly anti-poetic... describing nothing that the common run of poets would seize on." The text concerns modern, urban life, and the

artificiality Artificiality (the state of being artificial or manmade) is the state of being the product of intentional human manufacture, rather than occurring naturally through processes not involving or requiring human activity. Connotations Artificiality ...

of that existence. The poem also parodies and imitates, in certain parts of its structure and diction,

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...

's ''

Georgics The ''Georgics'' ( ; ) is a poem by Latin poet Virgil, likely published in 29 BCE. As the name suggests (from the Greek word , ''geōrgika'', i.e. "agricultural (things)") the subject of the poem is agriculture; but far from being an example ...

''. Other authorities suggest that the poem seeks to mock both the style and character of the way that then-contemporary city life was portrayed by other Augustan writers and poets. "A Description of a City Shower" is cited as part of the inspiration for

William Hogarth William Hogarth (; 10 November 1697 – 26 October 1764) was an English painter, engraver, pictorial satirist, social critic, editorial cartoonist and occasional writer on art. His work ranges from realistic portraiture to comic strip-like s ...

's ''

Four Times of the Day ''Four Times of the Day'' is a series of four oil paintings by English artist William Hogarth. They were completed in 1736 and in 1738 were reproduced and published as a series of four engravings. They are humorous depictions of life in the s ...

'', among other works. One of Hogarth's most famous works, ''Four Times of the Day'' sheds a humorous light on contemporary life in London, the mores of the various social classes of the city, and the mundane business of everyday life. Among the other works said to have provided Hogarth with inspiration for his series is the aforementioned "A Description of the Morning", published in the ''Tatler'' in 1709, as well as

John Gay John Gay (30 June 1685 – 4 December 1732) was an English poet and dramatist and member of the Scriblerus Club. He is best remembered for ''The Beggar's Opera'' (1728), a ballad opera. The characters, including Captain Macheath and Polly Peac ...

's "

Trivia Trivia is information and data that are considered to be of little value. It can be contrasted with general knowledge and common sense. Latin Etymology The ancient Romans used the word ''triviae'' to describe where one road split or forked ...

".Paulson, p.140–9

Notes

References

*Fairer, David; Gerrard, Christine – ''Eighteenth-Century Poetry: An Annotated Anthology''. Blackwell Publishing, 2004. *Allen, Rick – ''The Moving Pageant: A Literary Sourcebook on London Street-Life, 1700-1914''. Routledge, 1998. *Paulson, Ronald – ''Hogarth: High Art and Low, 1732-50 Vol 2.'' Lutterworth Press, 1992. . *Chambers, Robert – ''Cyclopaedia of English Literature''. 1850. {{DEFAULTSORT:Description Of A City Shower 1710 poems British poems Works originally published in Tatler (1709 journal)