Despondency: An Ode
Oppress’d with grief, oppress’d with care,A burden more than I can bear,I set me down and sigh;O life! thou art a galling load,Along a rough, a weary road,To wretches such as I!Dim backward as I cast my view,What sick’ning scenes appear!What sorrows yet may pierce me through,Too justly I may fear!Still caring, despairing,Must be my bitter doom;My woes here shall close ne’erBut with the closing tomb!
Happy! ye sons of busy life,Who, equal to the bustling strife,No other view regard!Ev’n when the wished end’s denied,Yet while the busy means are plied,They bring their own reward:Whilst I, a hope-abandon’d wight,Unfitted with an aim,Meet ev’ry sad returning night,And joyless morn the same!You, bustling, and justling,Forget each grief and pain;I, listless, yet restless,Find ev’ry prospect vain.
How blest the solitary’s lot,Who, all-forgetting, all forgot,Within his humble cell,The cavern, wild with tangling roots,Sits o’er his newly gather’d fruits,Beside his crystal well!Or haply, to his ev’ning thought,By unfrequented stream,The ways of men are distant brought,A faint, collected dream;While praising, and raisingHis thoughts to heav’n on high,As wand’ring, meand’ring,He views the solemn sky.
Than I, no lonely hermit plac’dWhere never human footstep trac’d,Less fit to play the part,The lucky moment to improve,And just to stop, and just to move,With self-respecting art:But ah! those pleasures, loves, and joys,Which I too keenly taste,The solitary can despise,Can want, and yet be blest!He needs not, he heeds not,Or human love or hate;Whilst I here must cry hereAt perfidy ingrate!
O, enviable, early days,When dancing thoughtless pleasure’s maze,To care, to guilt unknown!How ill exchang’d for riper times,To feel the follies, or the crimes,Of others, or my own!Ye tiny elves that guiltless sport,Like linnets in the bush,Ye little know the ills ye court,When manhood is your wish!The losses, the crosses,That active man engage;The fears all, the tears all,Of dim declining age!
Words in this poem 19
- galling a.
- Fitted to gall or chafe; vexing; harassing; irritating.
- despairing a.
- Feeling or expressing despair; hopeless.
- 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,]
- bustling a.
- Agitated; noisy; tumultuous; characterized by confused activity; as, a bustling crowd.
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- wight n.
- A whit; a bit; a jot. [OE. wight, wiht, a wight, a whit, AS. wiht, wuht, a creature, a thing; skin to D. wicht a child, OS. & OHG. wiht a creature, thing, G. wicht a creature, Icel. v]
- joyless a.
- Not having joy; not causing joy; unenjoyable.
- 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.]
- listless a.
- Having no desire or inclination; indifferent; heedless; spiritless. [OE. listles, lustles. See Lust.]
- haply adv.
- By hap, chance, luck, or accident; perhaps; it may be.
- unfrequented a.
- Rarely visited; seldom or never resorted to by human beings; as, an unfrequented place or forest. [Pref. un- + frequented.]
- keenly adv.
- In a keen manner.
- despise v. t.
- To look down upon with disfavor or contempt; to contemn; to scorn; to disdain; to have a low opinion or contemptuous dislike of. [OF. despis-, in some forms of despire to despise, fr. L. despicere, despectum, to look down upon, despise; de- + spicere, specere, to look. See Spy, and cf. Des]
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
- perfidy n.
- The act of violating faith or allegiance; violation of a promise or vow, or of trust reposed; faithlessness; teachery. [L. perfidia, fr. L. perfidus faithless; per (cf. Skr. para away) + fides faith: cf. F. perfidie. See Faith.]
- ingrate n.
- An ungrateful person.
- enviable a.
- Fitted to excite envy; capable of awakening an ardent desire to posses or to resemble. [From Envy.]
- maze n.
- A wild fancy; a confused notion. [OE. mase; cf. OE. masen to confuse, puzzle, Norweg. masast to fall into a slumber, masa to be continually busy, prate, chatter, Icel. masa to chatter, dial. Sw.]
- guiltless a.
- Free from guilt; innocent.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Despondency: An Ode 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, Despondency: An Ode, in Poems and Songs (1786–1796), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1279, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/burns-poems/despondency-an-ode.html, id L03022.
Form and metre
Despondency: An Ode is 70 lines in 5 stanzas of 14 lines each. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.9 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 6% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 AABCCBDEDE-FAF careA · bearA · sighB · loadC · roadC · iB · viewD · appearE · throughD · fearE · despairing · doomF · ne'erA · tombF
- 2 AA-BB-CDCD-E-E lifeA · strifeA · regard · deniedB · pliedB · reward · wightC · aimD · nightC · sameD · justling · painE · restless · vainE
- 3 AABCCBDEDEFGFG lotA · forgotA · cellB · rootsC · fruitsC · wellB · thoughtD · streamE · broughtD · dreamE · raisingF · highG · meand'ringF · skyG
- 4 AABCCB-A---D-D plac'dA · trac'dA · partB · improveC · moveC · artB · joys · tasteA · despise · blest · not · hateD · here · ingrateD
- 5 AABCCBD-D--E-E daysA · mazeA · unknownB · timesC · crimesC · ownB · sportD · bush · courtD · wish · crosses · engageE · all · ageE
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Oppress’d with grief, oppress’d with care, | 8 | ˘/··˘/·· |
| A burden more than I can bear, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| I set me down and sigh; | 6 | ······ |
| O life! thou art a galling load, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Along a rough, a weary road, | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| To wretches such as I! | 6 | ······ |
| Dim backward as I cast my view, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| What sick’ning scenes appear! | 6 | ····˘/ |
| What sorrows yet may pierce me through, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Too justly I may fear! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Still caring, despairing, | 6 | ·/˘˘/˘ |
| Must be my bitter doom; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| My woes here shall close ne’er | 6 | ······ |
| But with the closing tomb! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Happy! ye sons of busy life, | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Who, equal to the bustling strife, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| No other view regard! | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Ev’n when the wished end’s denied, | 8 | ····˘·˘/ |
| Yet while the busy means are plied, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| They bring their own reward: | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Whilst I, a hope-abandon’d wight, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Unfitted with an aim, | 6 | ˘/˘··· |
| Meet ev’ry sad returning night, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| And joyless morn the same! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| You, bustling, and justling, | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| Forget each grief and pain; | 6 | ˘/···· |
| I, listless, yet restless, | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| Find ev’ry prospect vain. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| How blest the solitary’s lot, | 8 | ···/˘·˘· |
| Who, all-forgetting, all forgot, | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
| Within his humble cell, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The cavern, wild with tangling roots, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Sits o’er his newly gather’d fruits, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Beside his crystal well! | 6 | ˘/·/˘· |
| Or haply, to his ev’ning thought, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| By unfrequented stream, | 6 | ······ |
| The ways of men are distant brought, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| A faint, collected dream; | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| While praising, and raising | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| His thoughts to heav’n on high, | 6 | ······ |
| As wand’ring, meand’ring, | 5 | ····· |
| He views the solemn sky. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Than I, no lonely hermit plac’d | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Where never human footstep trac’d, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/·· |
| Less fit to play the part, | 6 | ······ |
| The lucky moment to improve, | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| And just to stop, and just to move, | 8 | ········ |
| With self-respecting art: | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| But ah! those pleasures, loves, and joys, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Which I too keenly taste, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The solitary can despise, | 8 | ·/˘·˘·˘/ |
| Can want, and yet be blest! | 6 | ······ |
| He needs not, he heeds not, | 6 | ······ |
| Or human love or hate; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Whilst I here must cry here | 6 | ······ |
| At perfidy ingrate! | 6 | ·/˘˘/˘ |
| O, enviable, early days, | 8 | ·/˘˘˘/˘· |
| When dancing thoughtless pleasure’s maze, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| To care, to guilt unknown! | 6 | ····˘/ |
| How ill exchang’d for riper times, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| To feel the follies, or the crimes, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Of others, or my own! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Ye tiny elves that guiltless sport, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Like linnets in the bush, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Ye little know the ills ye court, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| When manhood is your wish! | 6 | ·/···· |
| The losses, the crosses, | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| That active man engage; | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| The fears all, the tears all, | 6 | ······ |
| Of dim declining age! | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
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.