Another
One Queen Artemisia, as old stories tell,When deprived of her husband she loved so well,In respect for the love and affection he show’d her,She reduc’d him to dust and she drank up the powder.But Queen Netherplace, of a diff’rent complexion,When called on to order the fun’ral direction,Would have eat her dead lord, on a slender pretence,Not to show her respect, but—to save the expense!
Words in this poem
- drank n.
- Wild oats, or darnel grass. See Drake a plant. [Cf. 3d Drake.]
- complexion n.
- The state of being complex; complexity. [F. complexion, fr. L. complexio. See Complex, a.]
- pretence n.
- The act of laying claim; the claim laid; assumption; pretension. [LL. praetensus, for L. praetentus, p. p. of praetendere. See Pretend, and cf. Tension.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Another is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems and Songs of Robert Burns, Project Gutenberg ebook #1279; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Robert Burns, Another, in Poems and Songs (1786–1796), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1279, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/burns-poems/another.html, id L02964.
Form and metre
Another is 8 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 50% of the lines. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 11.9 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in anapaestic 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--BB-- tellA · wellA · her · powder · complexionB · directionB · pretence · expense
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 anapaestic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| One Queen Artemisia, as old stories tell, | 11 | ········/˘· |
| When deprived of her husband she loved so well, | 11 | ·˘/··/˘···· |
| In respect for the love and affection he show’d her, | 13 | ·˘/····˘/˘··· |
| She reduc’d him to dust and she drank up the powder. | 12 | ·˘/········/ |
| But Queen Netherplace, of a diff’rent complexion, | 12 | ·········˘/˘ |
| When called on to order the fun’ral direction, | 12 | ····/˘···˘/˘ |
| Would have eat her dead lord, on a slender pretence, | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| Not to show her respect, but—to save the expense! | 12 | ····˘/····˘/ |
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.