Stanzas for Music
Bright be the place of thy soul!No lovelier spirit than thineE'er burst from its mortal control,In the orbs of the blessed to shine.On earth thou wert all but divine,As thy soul shall immortally be;nkAnd our sorrow may cease to repineWhen we know that thy God is with thee.
Light be the turf of thy tomb!nlMay its verdure like emeralds be!nmThere should not be the shadow of gloomIn aught that reminds us of thee.Young flowers and an evergreen treennMay spring from the spot of thy rest:But nor cypress nor yew let us see;For why should we mourn for the blest?
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,]
- immortally adv.
- In an immortal manner.
- repine v. i.
- To fail; to wane. [Pref. re- + pine to languish.]
- aught n.
- Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
- treenn a.
- Made of wood; wooden. [AS. treówen.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Stanzas for Music 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, Stanzas for Music, in The Giaour, and Other Poems (1816), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #21811, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-works-3/stanzas-for-music-3.html, id L23977.
Form and metre
Stanzas for Music is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is anapaestic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in anapaestic trimeter.
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 ABABB--- soulA · thineB · controlA · shineB · divineB · be;nk · repine · thee
- 2 ---A-BAB tomb!nl · be!nm · gloom · theeA · treenn · restB · seeA · blestB
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 anapaestic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Bright be the place of thy soul! | 7 | ······· |
| No lovelier spirit than thine | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| E'er burst from its mortal control, | 8 | ····/˘˘/ |
| In the orbs of the blessed to shine. | 8 | ········ |
| On earth thou wert all but divine, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| As thy soul shall immortally be;nk | 10 | ····˘/˘˘·· |
| And our sorrow may cease to repine | 9 | ·//˘···˘/ |
| When we know that thy God is with thee. | 9 | ········· |
| Light be the turf of thy tomb!nl | 8 | ········ |
| May its verdure like emeralds be!nm | 9 | ··/˘·/˘·· |
| There should not be the shadow of gloom | 9 | ·····/··· |
| In aught that reminds us of thee. | 8 | ···˘/··· |
| Young flowers and an evergreen treenn | 8 | ·/··/˘·· |
| May spring from the spot of thy rest: | 8 | ········ |
| But nor cypress nor yew let us see; | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| For why should we mourn for the blest? | 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.