Swift’s On Poetry: A Rapsody

In modern Wit all printed Trash, is

Set off with num’rous Breaks—and Dashes—

   To Statesmen wou’d you give a Wipe,

You print it in Italick Type.

When Letters are in vulgar Shapes,

‘Tis ten to one the Wit escapes;

But when in Capitals exprest,

The dullest Reader Smoaks the Jest.

This poem from Swift's writings fits perfectly into my term paper topic: Shandeism, Scriblerians, Orality, and Literacy.