Saul II
"Why is my sleep disquieted?Who is he that calls the dead?Is it thou, O King? Behold,Bloodless are these limbs, and cold:loSuch are mine; and such shall beThine to-morrow, when with me:Ere the coming day is done,Such shalt thou be--such thy Son.Fare thee well, but for a day,Then we mix our mouldering clay.Thou--thy race, lie pale and low,Pierced by shafts of many a bow;And the falchion by thy sideTo thy heart thy hand shall guide:Crownless--breathless--headless fall,Son and Sire--the house of Saul!"
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,]
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- falchion n.
- A broad-bladed sword, slightly curved, shorter and lighter than the ordinary sword; -- used in the Middle Ages. [OE. fauchon, OF. fauchon, LL. fälcio, fr. L. falx, falcis, a sickle, cf. Gr. falcon; cf. It. falcione. Cf. Defalcation.]
- sire n.
- A lord, master, or other person in authority. See Sir. [F. sire, originally, an older person. See Sir.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Saul 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, Saul II, in The Giaour, and Other Poems (1816), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #21811, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-works-3/saul-ii.html, id L23951.
Form and metre
Saul II is 16 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in trochaic 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHH disquietedA · deadA · beholdB · cold:loB · beC · meC · doneD · sonD · dayE · clayE · lowF · bowF · sideG · guideG · fallH · saulH
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| "Why is my sleep disquieted? | 8 | ····˘/˘˘ |
| Who is he that calls the dead? | 7 | ······· |
| Is it thou, O King? Behold, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Bloodless are these limbs, and cold:lo | 8 | /˘······ |
| Such are mine; and such shall be | 7 | ······· |
| Thine to-morrow, when with me: | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Ere the coming day is done, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Such shalt thou be--such thy Son. | 7 | ······· |
| Fare thee well, but for a day, | 7 | ······· |
| Then we mix our mouldering clay. | 8 | ···//˘˘· |
| Thou--thy race, lie pale and low, | 7 | ······· |
| Pierced by shafts of many a bow; | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| And the falchion by thy side | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| To thy heart thy hand shall guide: | 7 | ······· |
| Crownless--breathless--headless fall, | 7 | /˘/˘/˘· |
| Son and Sire--the house of Saul!" | 8 | ··/˘···· |
Notes from the edition 1
E. H. Coleridge's notes to The Works of Lord Byron, Poetry, Vol. III (John Murray, 1900; Project Gutenberg #21811). Bracketed passages are the editor's; unbracketed are Byron's own or earlier editors'. Lettered variant readings (manuscript and edition collations) are not harvested here, matching the treatment of Coleridge's Don Juan notes.
- Line 16 ["Since we have spoken of witches," said Lord Byron at Cephalonia, in 1823, "what think you of the witch of Endor? I have always thought this the finest and most finished witch-scene that ever was written or conceived; and you will be of my opinion, if you consider all the circumstances and the actors in the case, together with the gravity, simplicity, and dignity of the language."--Conversations on Religion with Lord Byron, by James Kennedy, M.D., London, 1830, p. 154.]
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