On Another's Sorrow
Can I see another's woe,And not be in sorrow too?Can I see another's grief,And not seek for kind relief?
Can I see a falling tear,And not feel my sorrow's share?Can a father see his childWeep, nor be with sorrow filled?
Can a mother sit and hearAn infant groan, an infant fear?No, no! never can it be!Never, never can it be!
And can He who smiles on allHear the wren with sorrows small,Hear the small bird's grief and care,Hear the woes that infants bear--
And not sit beside the next,Pouring pity in their breast,And not sit the cradle near,Weeping tear on infant's tear?
And not sit both night and day,Wiping all our tears away?Oh no! never can it be!Never, never can it be!
He doth give his joy to all:He becomes an infant small,He becomes a man of woe,He doth feel the sorrow too.
Think not thou canst sigh a sigh,And thy Maker is not by:Think not thou canst weep a tear,And thy Maker is not near.
Oh He gives to us his joy,That our grief He may destroy:Till our grief is fled an goneHe doth sit by us and moan.
About this text
On Another's Sorrow is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems of William Blake, Project Gutenberg ebook #574; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Blake, On Another's Sorrow, in Poems of William Blake (1783–1794), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #574, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/blake-poems/on-another-s-sorrow.html, id L01999.
Form and metre
On Another's Sorrow is 36 lines in 9 stanzas of 4 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 72% of the lines. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.0 syllables. 11% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in trochaic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 --AA woe · too · griefA · reliefA
- 2 AA-- tearA · shareA · child · filled
- 3 AABB hearA · fearA · beB · beB
- 4 AABB allA · smallA · careB · bearB
- 5 --AA next · breast · nearA · tearA
- 6 AABB dayA · awayA · beB · beB
- 7 AA-- allA · smallA · woe · too
- 8 AABB sighA · byA · tearB · nearB
- 9 AA-- joyA · destroyA · gone · moan
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Can I see another's woe, | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| And not be in sorrow too? | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Can I see another's grief, | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| And not seek for kind relief? | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Can I see a falling tear, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And not feel my sorrow's share? | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Can a father see his child | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Weep, nor be with sorrow filled? | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Can a mother sit and hear | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| An infant groan, an infant fear? | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| No, no! never can it be! | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Never, never can it be! | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| And can He who smiles on all | 7 | ······· |
| Hear the wren with sorrows small, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Hear the small bird's grief and care, | 7 | ······· |
| Hear the woes that infants bear-- | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And not sit beside the next, | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| Pouring pity in their breast, | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| And not sit the cradle near, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Weeping tear on infant's tear? | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| And not sit both night and day, | 7 | ······· |
| Wiping all our tears away? | 7 | /˘·/·˘/ |
| Oh no! never can it be! | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Never, never can it be! | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| He doth give his joy to all: | 7 | ······· |
| He becomes an infant small, | 7 | ·˘/·/˘· |
| He becomes a man of woe, | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| He doth feel the sorrow too. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Think not thou canst sigh a sigh, | 7 | ······· |
| And thy Maker is not by: | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Think not thou canst weep a tear, | 7 | ······· |
| And thy Maker is not near. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Oh He gives to us his joy, | 7 | ······· |
| That our grief He may destroy: | 7 | ·/···˘/ |
| Till our grief is fled an gone | 7 | ·/····· |
| He doth sit by us and moan. | 7 | ······· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.