Stanzas for Music
They say that Hope is happiness;But genuine Love must prize the past,And Memory wakes the thoughts that bless:They rose the first--they set the last;
And all that Memory loves the mostWas once our only Hope to be,And all that Hope adored and lostHath melted into Memory.
Alas! it is delusion all:The future cheats us from afar,Nor can we be what we recall,Nor dare we think on what we are.
Words in this poem
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
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-5.html, id L23983.
Form and metre
Stanzas for Music is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
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 ABAB happinessA · pastB · blessA · lastB
- 3 ABAB allA · afarB · recallA · areB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| They say that Hope is happiness; | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| But genuine Love must prize the past, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And Memory wakes the thoughts that bless: | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| They rose the first--they set the last; | 8 | ········ |
| And all that Memory loves the most | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Was once our only Hope to be, | 8 | ··//˘··· |
| And all that Hope adored and lost | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Hath melted into Memory. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| Alas! it is delusion all: | 8 | ˘/··˘/˘· |
| The future cheats us from afar, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Nor can we be what we recall, | 8 | ······/· |
| Nor dare we think on what we are. | 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.