Epitaph on James Grieve, Laird of Boghead, Tarbolton
Here lies Boghead amang the deadIn hopes to get salvation;But if such as he in Heav’n may be,Then welcome, hail! damnation.
An honest man here lies at restAs e’er God with his image blest;The friend of man, the friend of truth,The friend of age, and guide of youth:Few hearts like his, with virtue warm’d,Few heads with knowledge so informed:If there’s another world, he lives in bliss;If there is none, he made the best of this.
Words in this poem
- damnation n.
- The state of being damned; condemnation; openly expressed disapprobation. [F. damnation, L. damnatio, fr. damnare. See Damn.]
- informed a.
- Unformed or ill-formed; deformed; shapeless.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Epitaph on James Grieve, Laird of Boghead, Tarbolton 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, Epitaph on James Grieve, Laird of Boghead, Tarbolton, in Poems and Songs (1786–1796), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1279, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/burns-poems/epitaph-on-james-grieve-laird-of-boghead-tarbolton.html, id L02952.
Form and metre
Epitaph on James Grieve, Laird of Boghead, Tarbolton is 12 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 17% 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 -A-A dead · salvationA · be · damnationA
- 2 AABBCCDD restA · blestA · truthB · youthB · warm'dC · informedC · blissD · thisD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Here lies Boghead amang the dead | 8 | ········ |
| In hopes to get salvation; | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| But if such as he in Heav’n may be, | 9 | ········· |
| Then welcome, hail! damnation. | 7 | ·/˘·˘/˘ |
| An honest man here lies at rest | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| As e’er God with his image blest; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The friend of man, the friend of truth, | 8 | ········ |
| The friend of age, and guide of youth: | 8 | ········ |
| Few hearts like his, with virtue warm’d, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Few heads with knowledge so informed: | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| If there’s another world, he lives in bliss; | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| If there is none, he made the best of this. | 10 | ·········· |
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.