I Saw Thee Weep I
I saw thee weep--the big bright tearCame o'er that eye of blue;And then methought it did appearA violet dropping dew:I saw thee smile--the sapphire's blazeBeside thee ceased to shine;It could not match the living raysThat filled that glance of thine.
About this text
I Saw Thee Weep I 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, I Saw Thee Weep I, in The Giaour, and Other Poems (1816), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #21811, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-works-3/i-saw-thee-weep-i.html, id L23947.
Form and metre
I Saw Thee Weep I is 8 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCDCD. 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 ABABCDCD tearA · blueB · appearA · dewB · blazeC · shineD · raysC · thineD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I saw thee weep--the big bright tear | 8 | ········ |
| Came o'er that eye of blue; | 6 | ······ |
| And then methought it did appear | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| A violet dropping dew: | 7 | ·/˘˘/˘· |
| I saw thee smile--the sapphire's blaze | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Beside thee ceased to shine; | 6 | ˘/···· |
| It could not match the living rays | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That filled that glance of thine. | 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.