A LILLIPUTIAN ODE TO THE MAN-MOUNTAIN

By Jonathan Swift

In amaze,
Lost, I gaze! 
Can our eyes
Reach thy size? 
May my lays
Swell with praise! 
Worthy thee! 
Worthy me! 
Muse, inspire
All thy fire. 
Bards of old
Of him told,
When they said
Atlas’ head
Propt the skies: 
See, and believe your eyes.

  See him stride
  Valleys wide: 
  Over woods,
  Over floods,
  When he treads,
  Mountains’ heads
  Groan and shake;
  Armies quake,
  Lest his spurn
  Overturn
  Man and steed: 
  Troops take heed! 
  Left and right,
  Speed your flight! 
  Lest an host
  Beneath his foot be lost.

  Turn’d aside
  From his hide,
  Safe from wound
  Darts rebound;
  From his nose
  Clouds he blows;
  When he speaks,
  Thunder breaks! 
  When he eats,
  Famine threats;
  When he drinks,
  Neptune shrinks! 
  Nigh thy ear,
  In mid air,
  On thy hand
  Let me stand;
  So shall I,
  Lofty poet, touch the sky.

AMONG THE BROBDINGNAGIAN GIANTS

By Jonathan Swift

Having been condemned by nature and fortune to an active and restless life, in two months after my return I again left my native country, and took shipping in the Downs, on the 20th day of June, 1702, in the Adventure, Captain John Nicholas, a Cornishman, commander, bound for Surat.  We had a very prosperous gale till we arrived at the Cape of Good Hope, where we landed for fresh water; but discovering a leak, we unshipped our goods, and wintered there; for the captain falling sick of an ague, we could not leave the Cape till the end of March.  We then set sail, and had a good voyage till we passed the Straits of Madagascar; but having got northward of that island, and to about five degrees south latitude, the winds, which in those seas were observed to blow a constant equal gale between the north and west, from the beginning of December to the beginning of May, on the 9th of April began to blow with much greater violence, and more westerly than usual, continuing so for twenty days together:  during which time we were driven a little to the east of the Molucca Islands, and about three degrees northward of the line, as our captain found by an observation he took the 2d of May, at which time the wind ceased, and it was a perfect calm; whereat I was not a little rejoiced.  But he, being a man experienced in the navigation of those seas, bid us all prepare against a storm, which accordingly happened the day following; for a southern wind, called the southern monsoon, began to set in.