Disgust

In this poem, Swift plays significantly with what is probably his favorite mood across all his work: the affect of disgust. Disgust is a reaction to anything that people find viscerally and fundamentally upsetting. It is a rare mood for poetry to pursue.

It might seem like that is because disgust is a negative emotion, but other unpleasant emotions, like sorrow, are common poetic subjects. Poetry, however, tends to focus on what is beautiful or what can be made beautiful through language. Emotions like grief, despair, and longing can be made aesthetically beautiful, even if they are unpleasant things to actually feel.

Using the affect of disgust, therefore, seems likely to repel potential readers. It makes sense that writers would prefer to avoid such a subject. Swift, perhaps uniquely, returns to it repeatedly across his body of work. In this poem, he is particularly conscientious of...