Vision of Belshazzar
The King was on his throne,The Satraps thronged the hall:lxA thousand bright lamps shoneO'er that high festival.A thousand cups of gold,In Judah deemed divine--lyJehovah's vessels holdThe godless Heathen's wine!
In that same hour and hall,The fingers of a handCame forth against the wall,And wrote as if on sand:The fingers of a man;--A solitary handAlong the letters ran,And traced them like a wand.
The monarch saw, and shook,And bade no more rejoice;All bloodless waxed his look,And tremulous his voice."Let the men of lore appear,The wisest of the earth,And expound the words of fear,Which mar our royal mirth."
Chaldea's seers are good,But here they have no skill;And the unknown letters stoodUntold and awful still.And Babel's men of ageAre wise and deep in lore;But now they were not sage,They saw--but knew no more.
A captive in the land,A stranger and a youth,He heard the King's command,He saw that writing's truth.The lamps around were bright,The prophecy in view;He read it on that night,--The morrow proved it true.
"Belshazzar's grave is made,lzHis kingdom passed away.He, in the balance weighed,Is light and worthless clay;The shroud, his robe of state,His canopy the stone;The Mede is at his gate!The Persian on his throne!"
Words in this poem
- godless a.
- Having, or acknowledging, no God; without reverence for God; impious; wicked.
- wrote v. i.
- To root with the snout. See 1st Root. [OE. wroten. See 1st Root.]
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
- bade
- A form of the pat tense of Bid.
- expound v. t.
- To lay open; to expose to view; to examine. [OE. exponen, expounen, expounden, fr. L. exponere to set out, expose, expound; ex out + ponere to put: cf. OE. expondre, expondre. See Position.]
- untold a.
- Not told; not related; not revealed; as, untold secrets.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Vision of 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, Vision of Belshazzar, in The Giaour, and Other Poems (1816), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #21811, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-works-3/vision-of-belshazzar.html, id L23957.
Form and metre
Vision of Belshazzar is 48 lines in 6 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCDCD, complete in 3 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in iambic 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 A-A-B-B- throneA · hall:lx · shoneA · festival · goldB · ly · holdB · wine
- 2 ABABCBC- hallA · handB · wallA · sandB · manC · handB · ranC · wand
- 3 ABABCDCD shookA · rejoiceB · lookA · voiceB · appearC · earthD · fearC · mirthD
- 4 ABABCDCD goodA · skillB · stoodA · stillB · ageC · loreD · sageC · moreD
- 5 ABABCDCD landA · youthB · commandA · truthB · brightC · viewD · nightC · trueD
- 6 -A-ABCBC made,lz · awayA · weighed · clayA · stateB · stoneC · gateB · throneC
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The King was on his throne, | 6 | ······ |
| The Satraps thronged the hall:lx | 7 | ······· |
| A thousand bright lamps shone | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| O'er that high festival. | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| A thousand cups of gold, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| In Judah deemed divine--ly | 7 | ·/˘·˘/· |
| Jehovah's vessels hold | 6 | ˘/˘/˘· |
| The godless Heathen's wine! | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| In that same hour and hall, | 6 | ···/·· |
| The fingers of a hand | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Came forth against the wall, | 6 | ······ |
| And wrote as if on sand: | 6 | ······ |
| The fingers of a man;-- | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| A solitary hand | 6 | ·/˘·˘· |
| Along the letters ran, | 6 | ˘/·/˘· |
| And traced them like a wand. | 6 | ······ |
| The monarch saw, and shook, | 6 | ·/···· |
| And bade no more rejoice; | 6 | ····˘/ |
| All bloodless waxed his look, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And tremulous his voice. | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| "Let the men of lore appear, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| The wisest of the earth, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And expound the words of fear, | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| Which mar our royal mirth." | 6 | ··//˘· |
| Chaldea's seers are good, | 5 | ····· |
| But here they have no skill; | 6 | ······ |
| And the unknown letters stood | 7 | ··˘//˘· |
| Untold and awful still. | 6 | ˘/·/˘· |
| And Babel's men of age | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Are wise and deep in lore; | 6 | ······ |
| But now they were not sage, | 6 | ······ |
| They saw--but knew no more. | 6 | ······ |
| A captive in the land, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| A stranger and a youth, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| He heard the King's command, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| He saw that writing's truth. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The lamps around were bright, | 6 | ······ |
| The prophecy in view; | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| He read it on that night,-- | 6 | ······ |
| The morrow proved it true. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| "Belshazzar's grave is made,lz | 7 | ······· |
| His kingdom passed away. | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| He, in the balance weighed, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Is light and worthless clay; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The shroud, his robe of state, | 6 | ······ |
| His canopy the stone; | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| The Mede is at his gate! | 6 | ······ |
| The Persian on his throne!" | 6 | ·/˘··· |
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.