To Belshazzar
Belshazzar! from the banquet turn,Nor in thy sensual fulness fall;Behold! while yet before thee burnThe graven words, the glowing wall,nfMany a despot men miscallCrowned and anointed from on high;But thou, the weakest, worst of all--Is it not written, thou must die?ng
Go! dash the roses from thy brow--Grey hairs but poorly wreathe with them;Youth's garlands misbecome thee now,More than thy very diadem,nhWhere thou hast tarnished every gem:--Then throw the worthless bauble by,Which, worn by thee, ev'n slaves contemn;And learn like better men to die!
Oh! early in the balance weighed,And ever light of word and worth,Whose soul expired ere youth decayed,And left thee but a mass of earth.To see thee moves the scorner's mirth:But tears in Hope's averted eyeLament that even thou hadst birth--Unfit to govern, live, or die.
Words in this poem
- graven p. p.
- Carved. Graven image, an idol; an object of worship carved from wood, stone, etc.
- miscall v. t.
- To call by a wrong name; to name improperly.
- misbecome v. t.
- Not to become; to suit ill; not to befit or be adapted to.
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- bauble n.
- A trifling piece of finery; a gewgaw; that which is gay and showy without real value; a cheap, showy plaything. [Cf. OF. baubel a child's plaything, F. babiole, It. babbola, LL. baubellum gem, jewel, L. babulus,a baburrus, foolish.]
- contemn v. t.
- To view or treat with contempt, as mean and despicable; to reject with disdain; to despise; to scorn. [L. contemnere, -temptum; con- + temnere to slight, despise: cf. OF. contemner.]
- averted a.
- Turned away, esp. as an expression of feeling; also, offended; unpropitious.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Belshazzar 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, To Belshazzar, in The Giaour, and Other Poems (1816), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #21811, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-works-3/to-belshazzar.html, id L23974.
Form and metre
To Belshazzar is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
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 ABA-B-B- turnA · fallB · burnA · wall,nf · miscallB · high · allB · die?ng
- 2 ABA-BCBC browA · themB · nowA · diadem,nh · gemB · byC · contemnB · dieC
- 3 ABABBCBC weighedA · worthB · decayedA · earthB · mirthB · eyeC · birthB · dieC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Belshazzar! from the banquet turn, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Nor in thy sensual fulness fall; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Behold! while yet before thee burn | 8 | ˘/······ |
| The graven words, the glowing wall,nf | 9 | ·/˘··/˘·· |
| Many a despot men miscall | 8 | /˘·/˘·˘/ |
| Crowned and anointed from on high; | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| But thou, the weakest, worst of all-- | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Is it not written, thou must die?ng | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Go! dash the roses from thy brow-- | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Grey hairs but poorly wreathe with them; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Youth's garlands misbecome thee now, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| More than thy very diadem,nh | 9 | ···/˘/˘·· |
| Where thou hast tarnished every gem:-- | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Then throw the worthless bauble by, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Which, worn by thee, ev'n slaves contemn; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And learn like better men to die! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Oh! early in the balance weighed, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And ever light of word and worth, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Whose soul expired ere youth decayed, | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| And left thee but a mass of earth. | 8 | ········ |
| To see thee moves the scorner's mirth: | 8 | ········ |
| But tears in Hope's averted eye | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Lament that even thou hadst birth-- | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| Unfit to govern, live, or die. | 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.