My Soul Is Dark I
My soul is dark--Oh! quickly stringThe harp I yet can brook to hear;And let thy gentle fingers flingIts melting murmurs o'er mine ear.If in this heart a hope be dear,That sound shall charm it forth again:If in these eyes there lurk a tear,'Twill flow, and cease to burn my brain.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
My Soul Is Dark 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, My Soul Is Dark I, in The Giaour, and Other Poems (1816), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #21811, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-works-3/my-soul-is-dark-i.html, id L23945.
Form and metre
My Soul Is Dark I is 8 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABBCBC. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 98%).
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 ABABBCBC stringA · hearB · flingA · earB · dearB · againC · tearB · brainC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| My soul is dark--Oh! quickly string | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The harp I yet can brook to hear; | 8 | ········ |
| And let thy gentle fingers fling | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Its melting murmurs o'er mine ear. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| If in this heart a hope be dear, | 8 | ········ |
| That sound shall charm it forth again: | 8 | ······˘/ |
| If in these eyes there lurk a tear, | 8 | ········ |
| 'Twill flow, and cease to burn my brain. | 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.