The Epitaph
Here lies, now a prey to insulting neglect,What once was a butterfly, gay in life’s beam:Want only of wisdom denied her respect,Want only of goodness denied her esteem.
About this text
The Epitaph 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, The Epitaph, in Poems and Songs (1786–1796), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1279, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/burns-poems/the-epitaph-3.html, id L03354.
Form and metre
The Epitaph is 4 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABAB. The lines average 11.0 syllables.
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 neglectA · beamB · respectA · esteemB
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Here lies, now a prey to insulting neglect, | 11 | ······˘/˘˘/ |
| What once was a butterfly, gay in life’s beam: | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| Want only of wisdom denied her respect, | 11 | ·/˘·/˘˘/·˘/ |
| Want only of goodness denied her esteem. | 11 | ·/˘·/˘˘/·˘/ |
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.