If That High World II
It must be so: 'tis not for selfThat we so tremble on the brink;And striving to o'erleap the gulf,Yet cling to Being's severing link.lhOh! in that future let us thinkTo hold each heart the heart that shares,With them the immortal waters drink,And soul in soul grow deathless theirs!
Words in this poem
- brink n.
- The edge, margin, or border of a steep place, as of a precipice; a bank or edge, as of a river or pit; a verge; a border; as, the brink of a chasm. Also Fig. [Dan. brink edge, verge; akin to Sw. brink declivity, hill, Icel. brekka; cf. LG. brink a grassy hill, W. bryn hill, bryncyn hillock.]
- deathless a.
- Not subject to death, destruction, or extinction; immortal; undying; imperishable; as, deathless beings; deathless fame.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
If That High World II 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, If That High World II, in The Giaour, and Other Poems (1816), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #21811, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-works-3/if-that-high-world-ii.html, id L23939.
Form and metre
If That High World II is 8 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
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 -A--ABAB self · brinkA · gulf · link.lh · thinkA · sharesB · drinkA · theirsB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| It must be so: 'tis not for self | 8 | ········ |
| That we so tremble on the brink; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And striving to o'erleap the gulf, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Yet cling to Being's severing link.lh | 9 | ···/˘/˘·· |
| Oh! in that future let us think | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To hold each heart the heart that shares, | 8 | ········ |
| With them the immortal waters drink, | 9 | ···˘/˘/˘· |
| And soul in soul grow deathless theirs! | 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.