Inscription to Miss Graham of Fintry
Here, where the Scottish Muse immortal lives,In sacred strains and tuneful numbers joined,Accept the gift; though humble he who gives,Rich is the tribute of the grateful mind.
So may no ruffian-feeling in my breast,Discordant, jar thy bosom-chords among;But Peace attune thy gentle soul to rest,Or Love, ecstatic, wake his seraph song,
Or Pity’s notes, in luxury of tears,As modest Want the tale of woe reveals;While conscious Virtue all the strains endears,And heaven-born Piety her sanction seals.
Words in this poem
- tuneful a.
- Harmonious; melodious; musical; as, tuneful notes.
- attune v. t.
- To tune or put in tune; to make melodious; to adjust, as one sound or musical instrument to another; as, to attune the voice to a harp. [Pref. ad- + tune.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Inscription to Miss Graham of Fintry 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, Inscription to Miss Graham of Fintry, in Poems and Songs (1786–1796), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1279, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/burns-poems/inscription-to-miss-graham-of-fintry.html, id L03368.
Form and metre
Inscription to Miss Graham of Fintry is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.8 syllables.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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- livesA · joined · givesA · mind
- 2 A-A- breastA · among · restA · song
- 3 ABAB tearsA · revealsB · endearsA · sealsB
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Here, where the Scottish Muse immortal lives, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| In sacred strains and tuneful numbers joined, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Accept the gift; though humble he who gives, | 10 | ˘/···/˘··· |
| Rich is the tribute of the grateful mind. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| So may no ruffian-feeling in my breast, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Discordant, jar thy bosom-chords among; | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘··· |
| But Peace attune thy gentle soul to rest, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| Or Love, ecstatic, wake his seraph song, | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Or Pity’s notes, in luxury of tears, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘·· |
| As modest Want the tale of woe reveals; | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| While conscious Virtue all the strains endears, | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| And heaven-born Piety her sanction seals. | 9 | ·/·/˘·/˘· |
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.