The Orpiment of Tillages is a solemn poetic form concerning mining which grew out of the performances of The Pigmentary Wickednesses. The rules of the form are applied by poets to produce individual poems which can be recited. The poem is a single couplet. The second line of the couplet contrasts the underlying meaning of the first line. The second line of the couplet reverses the word order of the first line. The first line is intended to make an assertion. It has four feet with a syllable weight pattern of long-short (quantitative trochaic tetrameter). The second line is intended to invert the previous assertion. It has four feet with a syllable weight pattern of long-short (quantitative trochaic tetrameter).