A Description of a City Shower

[Hao Yu Chen]

Below is the commentary and I've made changes to certain parts based
on Ms. Olsheski's comments.


A Description of a City Shower is a mock epic poem written by Jonathan
Swift. At the surface, the poem appears to describe people trying to
find shelter in the wake of the approaching storm. A closer
examination, however, reveals a derisive mockery of modern London. The
city seems to have lost its purity, and as suggested by the
accumulation of garbage in the streets, is becoming more and more
tainted. The “stink” and sordidness of the city are ironic (5), given
the refinement implied by Swift’s use of iambic pentameter in the
poem, a meter typical of the epic. Indeed, the poem’s uncanny
juxtaposition of classic epic form and literary devices with the
portrayal of the polluted city highlights the need for a city-wide
retribution, to purge the contamination found in modern London and its
people.

The poem begins by emphasizing London’s unsightliness. Though “the
sink/Strike your offended sense with double stink” (5-6) is written in
elegant rhyming iambic pentameter, the lines do not extol the beauty
of the city, as is customary of an epic poem. Instead, the vivid
depiction actually abases and further tarnishes London’s status,
resulting in a jarring effect that heightens the hideousness of the
city. Swift continues in the same manner to draw attention to
presaging “shooting corns,” throbbing “old aches,” and raging “hollow”
teeth (9-10), inglorious problems that only imperfect humans – and not
god-favoured heroes – have. Imagery in the poem becomes even more
revolting as the rain begins to fall. For example, the surprising
eloquence of “a sable cloud a-thwart the welkin flings” (14) is
negated by its comparison to the vulgar “drunkard [who] gives it up
again” (17). Even the rain is made foul when it is said to be “not so
clean” (21) as a “quean” (20). A sense of lament for a diminished
present is achieved through this recount of mundane complications and
corrupted environments, and a longing for the more glorious, less
troubled city that London could have been, seems to be implied.

Despite being yearned for, achievement of a pure, innocent state
cannot happen until the city is entrenched in chaos and in dire need
of relief. The archetypal pattern of the final battle dictates this,
and perhaps is the reason for the peculiar behaviours exhibited in the
poem. Dust and wind come alive as “dust… aided by the wind, fought
still for life” (24-25). Just as unexpectedly, disorder strikes London
society. The distinctions between the different societal classes
disintegrate as people, disregarding the proper behaviour suitable to
their station, try to run for cover from the rain: “daggled” females
flee to shops (34), the Templar “calls a coach” (37), and the “tucked-
up” semptress (38) walks hurriedly while “streams” of rain flow down
her umbrella (39). Traditional qualities possessed by men of different
classes have also been switched. Hence, the noblemen equated with the
Greeks sit inside the sedan trembling, while the chairmen likened to
the strong, fearless Trojans, are out in the rain hard at work. Swift
makes another allusion to Greek mythology through his diction: “wooden
steed” is a reference to the hollow horse used in the Trojan War (48).
The rain becomes a downpour, causing “Triumphant Tories, and
desponding Whigs/[To] forget their feuds, and join to save their
wigs” (42-43). Swift manages to underline the exceptional power of
this “city shower” to unite otherwise opposed groups, while mocking
the artificiality and conceitedness of the London upper crust.

At last, the flood meant dispel the city of its impurities begins. The
tone of the poem still remains disdainful, with crude imagery
portraying the cleansing of the city. Water from “swelling kennels”
floods the streets (53), carrying with it “filth of all hues and
odours” (55). The filth could refer to the tainted members of the
population, and the flood could be an agent of the final battle
archetype, trying to demolish the sinned. However, the cleansing seems
to be unsuccessful, and befitting the mock epic style, the archetypal
pattern is not fulfilled. The deluge simply brings more “dung, guts,
and blood” (61) onto the streets, and washes none away. Those
seemingly corrupted by modern London, such as the noblemen, the
Tories, and the Whigs, do not change and are not punished. The
temporary joining together of the latter two parties, although good,
does not seem to compensate for their past wrongdoing. The flood’s
failure to purify either them or the city suggests that London is
beyond salvation.

As a result of modernization, London and its people have lost their
purity. Through modifications to the classic epic style and literary
devices, jarring imagery, and an unsympathetic tone, the mock epic A
Description of a City Shower is able to imply the doomed future of the
city and the absurdity of its current societal conventions. Jonathan
Swift’s diction emphasizes again and again the irredeemable, hopeless
state London finds itself it. Vivid imagery depicts the sordidness and
immorality of the city, and chaos seems to rule all as the city
experiences a collapse in its hierarchy. Furthermore, Swift makes
references to the Greeks and Trojans, evoking images of the epic
proportions of past mythological heroes – yet these heroes are
compared to flawed, simple humans, thereby diminishing the effect of
the allusions. A Description of a City Shower ridicules modern London
and how a simple event such as a shower can wreck order in all aspects
of the city. The future seems grim for London, especially if the
lesson provided by the disintegration of social classes is swept away,
just as the “dead cats and turnips-tops” are (63).