On the Countess Dowager of Pembroke
Underneath this sable herseLies the subject of all verse:Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother:Death, ere thou hast slain another,Fair and learn'd, and good as she,Time shall throw a dart at thee.
Marble piles let no man raiseTo her name: for after daysSome kind woman born as she,Reading this, like NiobeShall turn marble, and becomeBoth her mourner and her tomb.
Words in this poem
- sable n.
- A carnivorous animal of the Weasel family (Mustela zibellina) native of the northern latitudes of Europe, Asia, and America, -- noted for its fine, soft, and valuable fur. [OF. sable, F. zibeline sable (in sense 4), LL. sabellum; cf. D. sabel, Dan. sabel, zobel, Sw. sabel, sobel, G. zobel; all fr. Russ. sóbole.]
- herse n.
- A kind of gate or portcullis, having iron bars, like a harrow, studded with iron spikes. It is hung above gateways so that it may be quickly lowered, to impede the advance of an enemy. Farrow. [F. herse harrow, portcullis, OF. herce, LL. hercia, L. hirpex, gen. hirpicis, and irpex, gen. irpicis, harrow. The LL. hercia signifies also a kind of candlesti]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- niobe n.
- The daughter of Tantalus, and wife of Amphion, king of Thebes.
- mourner n.
- One who mourns or is grieved at any misfortune, as the death of a friend.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On the Countess Dowager of Pembroke is in the public domain. This text is taken from Pastoral Poems by Nicholas Breton, Selected Poetry by George Wither, and Pastoral Poetry by William Browne (of Tavistock), Project Gutenberg ebook #22001; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Nicholas Breton, On the Countess Dowager of Pembroke, in Pastoral Poems and Selected Poetry (1597–1604), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22001, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/breton-poems/on-the-countess-dowager-of-pembroke.html, id L08874.
Form and metre
On the Countess Dowager of Pembroke is 12 lines in 2 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 42% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See 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 AABBCC herseA · verseA · motherB · anotherB · sheC · theeC
- 2 AA---- raiseA · daysA · she · niobe · become · tomb
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Underneath this sable herse | 7 | ·˘/·/˘· |
| Lies the subject of all verse: | 7 | ··˘/··· |
| Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother: | 8 | /˘/˘/·/˘ |
| Death, ere thou hast slain another, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Fair and learn'd, and good as she, | 7 | ······· |
| Time shall throw a dart at thee. | 7 | ······· |
| Marble piles let no man raise | 7 | /˘····· |
| To her name: for after days | 7 | ······· |
| Some kind woman born as she, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Reading this, like Niobe | 7 | /˘··/˘˘ |
| Shall turn marble, and become | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Both her mourner and her tomb. | 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.