ShmoopTube
Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.
Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos
British Literature Videos 176 videos
Meet Charles Darnay, the nobleman who spends more time on trial and in prison than attending balls and drinking expensive wine. Don't feel too bad...
Written in Anglo-Saxon, or Old English, sometime between the 8th and 11th centuries, Beowulf is an epic poem that reflects the early medieval warri...
Brave New World is supposed be an exciting book about a negative utopia and the corrupt powers of authority. So where’s the big car chase? What's...
A Beautiful Young Nymph Going to Bed: Oh, How Hollywood 2291 Views
Share It!
Description:
And you thought a nymph was a naturally lovely woodland creature. To be fair, so did we. But boy did Jonathan Swift prove us wrong.
Transcript
- 00:05
A Beautiful Young Nymph Going to Bed, a la Shmoop. Oh, how Hollywood.
- 00:10
Some people just wash their face and brush their teeth before going to bed. Other people
- 00:14
take much, much longer.
- 00:16
The subject of Jonathan Swift’s poem “A Beautiful Young Nymph Going to Bed” is one
- 00:21
of those people who takes so long to get to bed…
Full Transcript
- 00:24
…we’re surprised the sun isn’t up by the time she’s under the covers.
- 00:28
This poem still holds up today, because it’s about timeless vanity, and the extreme lengths
- 00:33
many people will go to in order to achieve beauty.
- 00:36
Surprisingly, things haven’t changed that much since the 1700s.
- 00:40
As part of her nightly ritual, Swift’s subject removes her artificial hair at the end of
- 00:45
the day…
- 00:46
Today, some people wear hair extensions, everything from glued-in strands of real human hair to
- 00:51
a cheap, sewn-in polyester weave. While the modern gal dons fake eyelashes made
- 00:56
from mink fur…
- 00:57
…the classic nymph peels off eyebrows made from a mouse’s hide.
- 01:01
Not as sophisticated, but as long as she doesn’t dab on a beauty marks made from mouse droppings,
- 01:07
it’s not too bad. Ladies lacking in the bust department used
- 01:11
to use wadded-up rags to prop up… the girls.
- 01:15
Bosom technology is much more advanced today, ranging from push-up bras and chicken cutlets
- 01:20
for adding a little extra, all the way to implants.
- 01:23
Finally, if you have extra in all the wrong places, you used to need a small army of servants
- 01:29
to be roped into a steel-ribbed bodice.
- 01:32
Today, it’s as easy as pouring yourself into skin-tight Spanx, which transport your
- 01:38
fat to another dimension.
- 01:40
It’s likely that the 18th-century babe needed false teeth as an alternative to gumming her
- 01:44
corn on the cob.
- 01:46
Today, dental care is just as much about beauty as it is about health. Instead of false teeth,
- 01:52
we have veneers and UV-whitening.
- 01:54
Still, don’t go trying to open bottles with your chompers.
- 01:58
Whether it’s 18th-century or modern day, it takes a lot of extra work to achieve a
- 02:01
certain look.
- 02:03
What was Swift trying to say about beauty with this poem?
- 02:05
Does it still apply today? Shmoop amongst yourselves.
Related Videos
They say that honesty is the best policy, but Jack lies about his identity and still gets the girl. Does that mean we should all lie to get what we...
Ever wish you could remember everything that you ever studied? How about everything that everyone has ever studied? Yeah, pretty sure our brains ju...
Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man is an American classic. Hope you're not expecting any exciting shower scenes though. It's not that kind of book.
Do not go gentle into that good night. In fact, if it's past your curfew, don't go at all into that good night. You just stay in your good bed and...
