Farewell to Eliza
From thee, Eliza, I must go,And from my native shore;The cruel fates between us throwA boundless ocean’s roar:But boundless oceans, roaring wide,Between my love and me,They never, never can divideMy heart and soul from thee.
Farewell, farewell, Eliza dear,The maid that I adore!A boding voice is in mine ear,We part to meet no more!But the latest throb that leaves my heart,While Death stands victor by,—That throb, Eliza, is thy part,And thine that latest sigh!
Words in this poem
- adore v. t.
- To worship with profound reverence; to pay divine honors to; to honor as deity or as divine. [OE. aouren, anouren, adoren, OF. aorer, adorer, F. adorer, fr. L. adorare; ad + orare to speak, pray, os, oris, mouth. In OE. confused with honor, the French pr]
- boding a.
- Foreshowing; presaging; ominous.
- throb v. i.
- To beat, or pulsate, with more than usual force or rapidity; to beat in consequence of agitation; to palpitate; -- said of the heart, pulse, etc. [OE. ; of uncertain origin; cf. Russ. trepete a trembling, and E. trepidation.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Farewell to Eliza 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, Farewell to Eliza, in Poems and Songs (1786–1796), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1279, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/burns-poems/farewell-to-eliza.html, id L03033.
Form and metre
Farewell to Eliza is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCDCD. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 96%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.1 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 ABABCDCD goA · shoreB · throwA · roarB · wideC · meD · divideC · theeD
- 2 ABABCDCD dearA · adoreB · earA · moreB · heartC · byD · partC · sighD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| From thee, Eliza, I must go, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| And from my native shore; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The cruel fates between us throw | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A boundless ocean’s roar: | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| But boundless oceans, roaring wide, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Between my love and me, | 6 | ······ |
| They never, never can divide | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| My heart and soul from thee. | 6 | ······ |
| Farewell, farewell, Eliza dear, | 8 | ·/·/˘/˘· |
| The maid that I adore! | 6 | ····˘/ |
| A boding voice is in mine ear, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| We part to meet no more! | 6 | ······ |
| But the latest throb that leaves my heart, | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| While Death stands victor by,— | 6 | ···/˘· |
| That throb, Eliza, is thy part, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| And thine that latest sigh! | 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.