“On the Day of Judgment” Summary

“On the Day of Judgment” Themes

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  The Foolishness of Religious Infighting

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “On the Day of Judgment”

• Lines 1-4

  With a whirl of thought oppressed,
  I sink from reverie to rest.
  An horrid vision seized my head,
  I saw the graves give up their dead.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-10

  Jove, armed with terrors, bursts the skies,
  And thunder roars and light'ning flies!
  Amazed, confused, its fate unknown,
  The world stands trembling at his throne.
  While each pale sinner hangs his head,
  Jove, nodding, shook the heav'ns, and said:

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 11-14

  "Offending race of human kind,
  By nature, reason, learning, blind;
  You who, through frailty, stepped aside,
  And you, who never fell—through
   
  pride;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 15-18

  You who in different sects have shammed,
  And come to see each other damned;
  (So some folk told you, but they knew
  No more of Jove's designs than you);

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 19-22

  The world's mad business now is o'er,
  And I resent these pranks no more.
  I to such blockheads set my wit!
  I damn such fools!—Go, go, you're bit."

  

  

  

  

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“On the Day of Judgment” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Asyndeton

  

  

  

  

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• Imagery

  

  

  

  

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• Irony

  

  

  

  

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• Repetition

  

  

  

  

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“On the Day of Judgment” 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.

• Whirl
• Reverie
• Horrid
• Jove
• Terrors
• Offending
• Sects
• Shammed
• Damned
• Designs
• O'er
• Resent
• Blockheads
• Set my wit
• You're bit

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “On the Day of Judgment”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“On the Day of Judgment” Speaker

“On the Day of Judgment” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “On the Day of Judgment”

More “On the Day of Judgment” Resources

• External Resources

  • Swift's Life and Work — Learn more about Jonathan Swift in this biography from the Poetry Foundation.

  • Religions on the End of the World — Check out an article exploring how different major religions conceive of the end times.

  • Swift and Religion — A brief overview of Swift's political and religious leanings.

  • The Augustan Era — Listen to a documentary about the literature of the 18th-century Augustan age, with particular focus on Swift and Alexander Pope. 

  • A Man of Letters — Read Swift's correspondence, including with Pope.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Jonathan Swift

  • A Satirical Elegy on the Death of a Late Famous General