On the Death of the Duke of Dorset
I heard thy fate without a tear,Thy loss with scarce a sigh;And yet thou wast surpassing dear,Too loved of all to die.I know not what hath seared my eye--Its tears refuse to start;But every drop, it bids me dry,Falls dreary on my heart.
Yes, dull and heavy, one by one,They sink and turn to care,As caverned waters wear the stone,Yet dropping harden there:They cannot petrify more fast,Than feelings sunk remain,Which coldly fixed regard the past,But never melt again.
Words in this poem
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- wast
- The second person singular of the verb be, in the indicative mood, imperfect tense; -- now used only in solemn or poetical style.
- seared a.
- Scorched; cauterized; hence, figuratively, insensible; not susceptible to moral influences.
- dreary a.
- Sorrowful; distressful. [OE. dreori, dreri, AS. dreórig, sad; akin to G. traurig, and prob. to AS. dreósan to fall, Goth. driusan. Cf. Dross, Drear, Drizzle, Drowse.]
- caverned a.
- Containing caverns.
- petrify v. t.
- To convert, as any animal or vegetable matter, into stone or stony substance. [L. petra rock, Gr. -fy: cf. F. pétrifier. Cf. Parrot, Petrel, Pier.]
- coldly adv.
- In a cold manner; without warmth, animation, or feeling; with indifference; calmly.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On the Death of the Duke of Dorset 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, On the Death of the Duke of Dorset, in The Giaour, and Other Poems (1816), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #21811, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-works-3/on-the-death-of-the-duke-of-dorset.html, id L23976.
Form and metre
On the Death of the Duke of Dorset is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 lines each. 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 tearA · sighB · dearA · dieB · eyeB · startC · dryB · heartC
- 2 -A-ABCBC one · careA · stone · thereA · fastB · remainC · pastB · againC
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 heard thy fate without a tear, | 8 | ········ |
| Thy loss with scarce a sigh; | 6 | ······ |
| And yet thou wast surpassing dear, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Too loved of all to die. | 6 | ······ |
| I know not what hath seared my eye-- | 8 | ········ |
| Its tears refuse to start; | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| But every drop, it bids me dry, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Falls dreary on my heart. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Yes, dull and heavy, one by one, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| They sink and turn to care, | 6 | ······ |
| As caverned waters wear the stone, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Yet dropping harden there: | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| They cannot petrify more fast, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Than feelings sunk remain, | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Which coldly fixed regard the past, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| But never melt again. | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
On this poem
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.