And Thou Art Dead, as Young and Fair.Aq
And thou art dead, as young and fairAs aught of mortal birth;And form so soft, and charms so rare,Too soon returned to Earth!arThough Earth received them in her bed,And o'er the spot the crowd may treadasIn carelessness or mirth,There is an eye which could not brookA moment on that grave to look.
I will not ask where thou liest low,atNor gaze upon the spot;There flowers or weeds at will may grow,So I behold them not:auIt is enough for me to proveThat what I loved, and long must love,Like common earth can rot;avTo me there needs no stone to tell,'Tis Nothing that I loved so wellaw
Yet did I love thee to the lastAs fervently as thou,axWho didst not change through all the past,And canst not alter now.The love where Death has set his seal,Nor age can chill, nor rival steal,ayNor falsehood disavow:azAnd, what were worse, thou canst not seebaOr wrong, or change, or fault in me.bb
The better days of life were ours;The worst can be but mine:The sun that cheers, the storm that lowers,bcShall never more be thine.The silence of that dreamless sleepbdI envy now too much to weep;Nor need I to repine,That all those charms have passed awayI might have watched through long decay.
The flower in ripened bloom unmatchedMust fall the earliest prey;beThough by no hand untimely snatched,The leaves must drop away:And yet it were a greater griefTo watch it withering, leaf by leaf,Than see it plucked to-day;Since earthly eye but ill can bearTo trace the change to foul from fair.
I know not if I could have bornebfTo see thy beauties fade;The night that followed such a mornHad worn a deeper shade:Thy day without a cloud hath passed,bgAnd thou wert lovely to the last;Extinguished, not decayed;As stars that shoot along the skybhShine brightest as they fall from high.
As once I wept, if I could weep,My tears might well be shed,To think I was not near to keepOne vigil o'er thy bed;To gaze, how fondly! on thy face,To fold thee in a faint embrace,Uphold thy drooping head;And show that love, however vain,Nor thou nor I can feel again.
Yet how much less it were to gain,Though thou hast left me free,biThe loveliest things that still remain,Than thus remember thee!The all of thine that cannot dieThrough dark and dread EternitybjReturns again to me,And more thy buried love endearsThan aught, except its living years.
Words in this poem
- aught n.
- Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- dreamless a.
- Free from, or without, dreams. Camden.
- repine v. i.
- To fail; to wane. [Pref. re- + pine to languish.]
- withering a.
- Tending to wither; causing to shrink or fade.
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- vigil n.
- Abstinence from sleep, whether at a time when sleep is customary or not; the act of keeping awake, or the state of being awake, or the state of being awake; sleeplessness; wakefulness; watch. [OE. vigile, L. vigilia, from vigil awake, watchful, probably akin to E. wake: cf. F. vigile. See Wake, v. i., and cf. Reveille, Surveillance, Vedette, Vegetable]
- fondly adv.
- Foolishly. Verstegan (1673).
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
And Thou Art Dead, as Young and Fair.Aq is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Works of Lord Byron. Vol. 3, Project Gutenberg ebook #21811; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Lord Byron, And Thou Art Dead, as Young and Fair.Aq, in The Giaour, and Other Poems (1816), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #21811, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-works-3/and-thou-art-dead-as-young-and-fair-aq.html, id L23843.
Form and metre
And Thou Art Dead, as Young and Fair.Aq is 72 lines in 8 stanzas of 9 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
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 ABA---BCC fairA · birthB · rareA · earth!ar · bed · treadas · mirthB · brookC · lookC
- 2 ----AA--- low,at · spot · grow · not:au · proveA · loveA · rot;av · tell · wellaw
- 3 A-A------ lastA · thou,ax · pastA · now · seal · steal,ay · disavow:az · seeba · me.bb
- 4 -A-A---BB ours · mineA · lowers,bc · thineA · sleepbd · weep · repine · awayB · decayB
- 5 A-ABCCBDD unmatchedA · prey;be · snatchedA · awayB · griefC · leafC · dayB · bearD · fairD
- 6 -A-A--A-- bornebf · fadeA · morn · shadeA · passed,bg · last · decayedA · skybh · high
- 7 ABABCCBDD weepA · shedB · keepA · bedB · faceC · embraceC · headB · vainD · againD
- 8 A-ABB-BCC gainA · free,bi · remainA · theeB · dieB · eternitybj · meB · endearsC · yearsC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| And thou art dead, as young and fair | 8 | ········ |
| As aught of mortal birth; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And form so soft, and charms so rare, | 8 | ········ |
| Too soon returned to Earth!ar | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Though Earth received them in her bed, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| And o'er the spot the crowd may treadas | 9 | ········· |
| In carelessness or mirth, | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| There is an eye which could not brook | 8 | ········ |
| A moment on that grave to look. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| I will not ask where thou liest low,at | 9 | ········· |
| Nor gaze upon the spot; | 6 | ······ |
| There flowers or weeds at will may grow, | 8 | ·/······ |
| So I behold them not:au | 7 | ··˘/··· |
| It is enough for me to prove | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| That what I loved, and long must love, | 8 | ········ |
| Like common earth can rot;av | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| To me there needs no stone to tell, | 8 | ········ |
| 'Tis Nothing that I loved so wellaw | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Yet did I love thee to the last | 8 | ········ |
| As fervently as thou,ax | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| Who didst not change through all the past, | 8 | ········ |
| And canst not alter now. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The love where Death has set his seal, | 8 | ········ |
| Nor age can chill, nor rival steal,ay | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Nor falsehood disavow:az | 7 | ·/··˘/· |
| And, what were worse, thou canst not seeba | 9 | ········· |
| Or wrong, or change, or fault in me.bb | 9 | ········· |
| The better days of life were ours; | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| The worst can be but mine: | 6 | ······ |
| The sun that cheers, the storm that lowers,bc | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Shall never more be thine. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The silence of that dreamless sleepbd | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| I envy now too much to weep; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Nor need I to repine, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| That all those charms have passed away | 8 | ······˘/ |
| I might have watched through long decay. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The flower in ripened bloom unmatched | 8 | ·/·/˘·˘/ |
| Must fall the earliest prey;be | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| Though by no hand untimely snatched, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| The leaves must drop away: | 6 | ····˘/ |
| And yet it were a greater grief | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To watch it withering, leaf by leaf, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Than see it plucked to-day; | 7 | ····˘·· |
| Since earthly eye but ill can bear | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| To trace the change to foul from fair. | 8 | ········ |
| I know not if I could have bornebf | 9 | ········· |
| To see thy beauties fade; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The night that followed such a morn | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Had worn a deeper shade: | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Thy day without a cloud hath passed,bg | 9 | ········· |
| And thou wert lovely to the last; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Extinguished, not decayed; | 8 | ˘/˘˘·˘/˘ |
| As stars that shoot along the skybh | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Shine brightest as they fall from high. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| As once I wept, if I could weep, | 8 | ········ |
| My tears might well be shed, | 6 | ······ |
| To think I was not near to keep | 8 | ········ |
| One vigil o'er thy bed; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| To gaze, how fondly! on thy face, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To fold thee in a faint embrace, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Uphold thy drooping head; | 6 | ˘/·/˘· |
| And show that love, however vain, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Nor thou nor I can feel again. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Yet how much less it were to gain, | 8 | ········ |
| Though thou hast left me free,bi | 7 | ······· |
| The loveliest things that still remain, | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| Than thus remember thee! | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| The all of thine that cannot die | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Through dark and dread Eternitybj | 8 | ········ |
| Returns again to me, | 6 | ˘/˘/·· |
| And more thy buried love endears | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Than aught, except its living years. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
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.