Senses & "A Description of the Morning"

How does Swift use the five senses in "A Description of the Morning" to turn away from romanticizing London?

"The five senses act as the mediators between the outside world and the mind. The senses help people navigate around their environment, and gain a sense of others. However, urban life impacted on the senses of different citizens in diverse ways... Sensing is not only highly individualistic, it is also historically constituted" (The City in Hubbub, 15-6)

"Swift applies a rural descriptive style to matters modern and unpoetic. Sir Richard Steele, the Tatler's editor, heralded the poem as a new experiment in urban realism... He never forms Fields, or Nymphs, or Groves, where they are not, but makes the Incidents just as they really appear" (A Description of the Morning, 74).

As the title suggests, Swift aims to describe the typical morning in London in his poem. Instead of idealizing it or romanticizing it, Swift turns to "urban realism." That is, he describes things as they really are, while relying on the senses. Although he doesn't explicitly spell out the senses within his poem, his use of sensory helps to show how people navigate around their environment.

In the first two lines of the poem, Swift addresses the over-crowdedness of London with his use of "Hackney-Coach." This coach is meant to represent the sun-god Apollo's chariot, while the "Ruddy Morn's Approach" is the sunrise. A chariot is drawn by two horses and is usually meant for one person, while a coach is drawn by two to four horses and is meant to fit six people. The use of "Ruddy Morn" suggests that the sunrise is dull, or gloom. By using these specific words, Swift shows that the typical day in London isn't romantic; there is no sun-god to bring the day about, only the Hackney-coach, and the morning isn't bright, but gloomy. He also suggests it is crowded.

He also goes on to describe the various tasks that workers are doing. For example, "The Slipshod 'Prentice from his Master's Dore / Had par'd the Street, and sprinkl'd round the Floor" (lines 5-6) and "Duns at his Lordship's Gate began to meet" (line 13). These examples not only show the gap between social classes, but also work as 'good' and 'bad' characters within the poem. The "Slipshod 'Prentice" has already scraped dirt from the street and sprinkled sawdust by the time the sun rises. He acts as the moral, hardworking character, as opposed to the Lord. The Lord could be seen as morally corrupt, because he is in debt, but also acts as the higher class within the poem. The melding of these bad characters with the good suggests that the city overlooks the behavior because it is needed for the functioning of it. By being in debt, the Lord creates jobs for the Duns.