III.lt
The serpent of the field, by artAnd spells, is won from harming;But that which coils around the heart,Oh! who hath power of charming?It will not list to Wisdom's lore,Nor Music's voice can lure it;But there it stings for evermoreThe soul that must endure it.
Words in this poem
- evermore adv.
- During eternity; always; forever; for an indefinite period; at all times; -- often used substantively with for.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
III.lt 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, III.lt, in The Giaour, and Other Poems (1816), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #21811, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-works-3/iii-lt.html, id L23955.
Form and metre
III.lt is 8 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCDCD. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
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 artA · harmingB · heartA · charmingB · loreC · itD · evermoreC · itD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The serpent of the field, by art | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And spells, is won from harming; | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| But that which coils around the heart, | 8 | ········ |
| Oh! who hath power of charming? | 8 | ···/˘·/˘ |
| It will not list to Wisdom's lore, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Nor Music's voice can lure it; | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| But there it stings for evermore | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The soul that must endure it. | 7 | ····˘/· |
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.