The Pig
Read 'The Pig' by 'Christopher Smart' and provide your summary and literary analysis in the comments section below.
In ev'ry age, and each profession,
Men err the most by prepossession;
But when the thing is clearly shown,
And fairly stated, fully known,
We soon applaud what we deride,
And penitence succeeds to pride.--
A certain Baron on a day
Having a mind to show away,
Invited all the wits and wags,
Foot, Massey, Shuter, Yates, and Skeggs,
And built a large commodious stage,
For the Choice Spirits of the age;
But above all, among the rest,
There came a Genius who profess'd
To have a curious trick in store,
Which never was perform'd before.
Thro' all the town this soon got air,
And the whole house was like a fair;
But soon his entry as he made,
Without a prompter, or parade,
'Twas all expectance, all suspense,
And silence gagg'd the audience.
He hid his head behind his wig,
With with such truth took off* a Pig, [imitated]
All swore 'twas serious, and no joke,
For doubtless underneath his cloak,
He had conceal'd some grunting elf,
Or was a real hog himself.
A search was made, no pig was found--
With thund'ring claps the seats resound,
And pit and box and galleries roar,
With--"O rare! bravo!" and "Encore!"
Old Roger Grouse, a country clown,
Who yet knew something of the town,
Beheld the mimic and his whim,
And on the morrow challeng'd him.
Declaring to each beau and bunter
That he'd out-grunt th'egregious grunter.
The morrow came--the crowd was greater--
But prejudice and rank ill-nature
Usurp'd the minds of men and wenches,
Who came to hiss, and break the benches.
The mimic took his usual station,
And squeak'd with general approbation.
"Again, encore! encore!" they cry--
'Twas quite the thing--'twas very high;
Old Grouse conceal'd, amidst the racket,
A real Pig berneath his jacket--
Then forth he came--and with his nail
He pinch'd the urchin by the tail.
The tortur'd Pig from out his throat,
Produc'd the genuine nat'ral note.
All bellow'd out--"'Twas very sad!
Sure never stuff was half so bad!
That like a Pig!"--each cry'd in scoff,
"Pshaw! Nonsense! Blockhead! Off! Off! Off!"
The mimic was extoll'd, and Grouse
Was hiss'd and catcall'd from the house.--
"Soft ye, a word before I go,"
Quoth honest Hodge--and stooping low
Produc'd the Pig, and thus aloud
Bespoke the stupid, partial crowd:
"Behold, and learn from this poor creature,
How much you Critics know of Nature."
The Pig Summary and Analysis
Christopher Smart presents a comic anecdote about performance, taste, and the way public judgment is often swayed by fashion rather than truth. The poem begins with a broad claim about human bias and then moves into a theatrical scene in which a clever performer wins applause by imitating a pig so convincingly that the audience mistakes artifice for reality. The setup is playful, but it also exposes how readily people reward what they expect to admire.
The poem then sharpens its irony by introducing a second contestant, Old Grouse, whose attempt to compete is sabotaged by the crowd's prejudice. When he produces an actual pig, the audience rejects the authentic sound because it does not fit their belief about what a worthy imitation should be. Smart turns the joke into a criticism of critics themselves: the crowd values style over truth, while the final moral suggests that people who claim expertise in judging nature often understand it least of all. Beneath the wit lies a tension between genuine feeling and social performance, between what is real and what is merely approved.
Tone in The Pig
Smart's tone is witty, taunting, and sharply amused, especially in the way he builds toward the final rebuke of the crowd. He sounds confident in his moral judgment but never heavy-handed; the poem keeps its edge through comic timing and playful exaggeration. The mood for the reader is lively and mischievous at first, then increasingly ironic as the audience proves more foolish than the performer. By the end, the amusement carries a sting, since the joke depends on exposing human vanity and unreliable taste.
This literary analysis was generated with AI and may contain interpretive differences. Provide your analysis in the comments section.
Themes in The Pig
- Appearance versus reality - The poem repeatedly shows how easily spectators confuse imitation with truth, and how a convincing performance can be mistaken for the genuine article.
- Prejudice and bias - Smart stresses that people often judge before they understand, allowing fashion, rank, and crowd opinion to determine their response.
- Criticism and expertise - The closing taunt targets self-appointed judges of art and nature, suggesting that critics may be loud, but not necessarily perceptive.
- Performance and social approval - The crowd applauds what seems clever or fashionable, revealing how public praise can depend more on spectacle than on merit.
- Irony - The poem's humor depends on the audience being wrong at every turn, turning their confidence into a satire of foolish certainty.
Literary Devices in The Pig
- Satire - Smart uses comic narrative to ridicule shallow taste, pretentious critics, and the herd mentality of audiences.
- Narrative anecdote - The poem tells a brief story with rising action and a punchline, making its argument through a memorable scene rather than abstract commentary.
- Irony - The crowd applauds the imitation and rejects the real pig, creating a reversal that exposes their bad judgment.
- Couplet rhyme - The paired end-rhymes give the poem a brisk, epigrammatic energy that suits its comic moral.
- Hyperbole - Exaggerated descriptions of the audience's reactions and the event's excitement heighten the farcical tone.
- Dramatic dialogue - The shouted responses and final speech make the scene feel performative and public, reinforcing the poem's concern with display.
- Mock-heroic style - The poem treats a ridiculous subject with elevated, polished form, which increases the satire by making trivial events sound dignified.
Symbolism in The Pig
- The pig - The pig represents nature itself, especially the unvarnished truth that cannot be mastered by fashionable opinion.
- The stage - The stage symbolizes public judgment and the theatrical nature of social approval, where reputation can outweigh reality.
- The wig - The wig suggests disguise, role-playing, and the artificial surfaces that make deception seem respectable.
- The crowd - The audience stands for collective prejudice, showing how public taste can become a kind of blindness.
- The imitation of a pig - The performance symbolizes artifice that can be mistaken for authenticity when spectators are already eager to be impressed.
Historical Context of The Pig
Christopher Smart wrote during the eighteenth century, a period that often prized wit, sociability, and polished poetic form, but also one in which writers frequently satirized public manners and literary judgment. The poem fits comfortably within that tradition by using a short comic narrative to comment on taste, criticism, and the gap between appearance and truth.
Its couplet form and mock-serious manner recall the broader Augustan habit of pairing formal control with social satire. In that literary culture, poets often used light anecdote to make pointed observations about human folly, and this poem's final jab at critics belongs squarely to that tradition.
Poems Similar to The Pig
- A Fish Story - John Gay
- The Village Blacksmith - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- The Chimney Sweeper - William Blake
- The Garden - Andrew Marvell