To Tirzah
Whate'er is born of mortal birthMust be consumed with the earth,To rise from generation free:Then what have I to do with thee?The sexes sprang from shame and pride,Blown in the morn, in evening died;But mercy changed death into sleep;The sexes rose to work and weep.
Thou, mother of my mortal part,With cruelty didst mould my heart,And with false self-deceiving tearsDidst bind my nostrils, eyes, and ears,
Didst close my tongue in senseless clay,And me to mortal life betray.The death of Jesus set me free:Then what have I to do with thee?
Words in this poem
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- mould n.
- Crumbling, soft, friable earth; esp., earth containing the remains or constituents of organic matter, and suited to the growth of plants; soil. [OE. molde, AS. molde; akin to D. mul, G. mull, mulm, OHG. molt, molta, Icel. mold, Dan. muld, Sw. mull, Goth. mulda, and E. meal flour. See Meal, and cf. Mole a]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Tirzah 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, To Tirzah, in Poems of William Blake (1783–1794), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #574, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/blake-poems/to-tirzah.html, id L02024.
Form and metre
To Tirzah is 16 lines in 3 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 12% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic 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 AABBCCDD birthA · earthA · freeB · theeB · prideC · diedC · sleepD · weepD
- 2 AABB partA · heartA · tearsB · earsB
- 3 AABB clayA · betrayA · freeB · theeB
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 iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Whate'er is born of mortal birth | 9 | ˘˘/···/˘· |
| Must be consumed with the earth, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| To rise from generation free: | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Then what have I to do with thee? | 8 | ········ |
| The sexes sprang from shame and pride, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Blown in the morn, in evening died; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| But mercy changed death into sleep; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The sexes rose to work and weep. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Thou, mother of my mortal part, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| With cruelty didst mould my heart, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| And with false self-deceiving tears | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Didst bind my nostrils, eyes, and ears, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Didst close my tongue in senseless clay, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And me to mortal life betray. | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| The death of Jesus set me free: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Then what have I to do with thee? | 8 | ········ |
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.