For the Death of Her Son
Fate gave the word, the arrow sped,And pierc’d my darling’s heart;And with him all the joys are fledLife can to me impart.
By cruel hands the sapling drops,In dust dishonour’d laid;So fell the pride of all my hopes,My age’s future shade.
The mother-linnet in the brakeBewails her ravish’d young;So I, for my lost darling’s sake,Lament the live-day long.
Death, oft I’ve feared thy fatal blow.Now, fond, I bare my breast;O, do thou kindly lay me lowWith him I love, at rest!
Words in this poem
- dishonour n.
- Lack of honor; disgrace; ignominy; shame; reproach. [OE. deshonour, dishonour, OF. deshonor, deshonur, F. déshonneur; pref. des- (L. dis-) + honor, honur, F. honneur, fr. L. honor. See Honor.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
For the Death of Her Son 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, For the Death of Her Son, in Poems and Songs (1786–1796), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1279, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/burns-poems/for-the-death-of-her-son.html, id L03143.
Form and metre
For the Death of Her Son is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.0 syllables. 19% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in common measure.
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 ABAB spedA · heartB · fledA · impartB
- 2 -A-A drops · laidA · hopes · shadeA
- 3 A-A- brakeA · young · sakeA · long
- 4 ABAB blowA · breastB · lowA · restB
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Fate gave the word, the arrow sped, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And pierc’d my darling’s heart; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And with him all the joys are fled | 8 | ········ |
| Life can to me impart. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| By cruel hands the sapling drops, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| In dust dishonour’d laid; | 6 | ······ |
| So fell the pride of all my hopes, | 8 | ········ |
| My age’s future shade. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| The mother-linnet in the brake | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Bewails her ravish’d young; | 6 | ······ |
| So I, for my lost darling’s sake, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Lament the live-day long. | 6 | ˘/···· |
| Death, oft I’ve feared thy fatal blow. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Now, fond, I bare my breast; | 6 | ······ |
| O, do thou kindly lay me low | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| With him I love, at rest! | 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.