Verses on Marie Antoinette
Behold where Gallia’s captive queen,With steady eye and look serene,In life’s last awful—awful scene,Slow leaves her sad captivity.
Hark! the shrill horn that rends the skyBespeaks thy ready murder nigh,The long parade of death I spy,And leave my lone captivity.
Farewell, ye mansions of despair,Scenes of my sad sequestered care.The balm of bleeding war is near.Adieu, my lone captivity.
To purer mansions in the sky,Fair Hope directs my grief-worn eye,Where sorrow’s child no more shall sighAmid her lone captivity.
Adieu, ye babes whose infant bloomBeneath oppression’s lawless doom,Pines in the solitary gloomOf undeserved captivity.
O Power benign that rul’st on high,Cast down, cast down a pitying eye;Shed consolation from the sky,To soothe their sad captivity.
Now virtue’s sure reward to prove,I seek empyreal realms above,To meet my long-departed love;Adieu my lone captivity.
Words in this poem
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- 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,]
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- pitying a.
- Expressing pity; as, a pitying eye, glance, or word.
- soothe v. t.
- To assent to as true. Testament of Love. [Originally, to assent to as true; OE. so to verify, AS. ges to prove the truth of, to bear witness. See Sooth, a.]
- empyreal a.
- Formed of pure fire or light; refined beyond aërial substance; pertaining to the highest and purest region of heaven. [L. empyrius, empyreus, fiery, Gr. In, and Fire.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Verses on Marie Antoinette is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Thomas Campbell, Project Gutenberg ebook #59788; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Thomas Campbell, Verses on Marie Antoinette, in The Pleasures of Hope, and Other Poems (1824), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59788, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/campbell-poems/verses-on-marie-antoinette.html, id L24440.
Form and metre
Verses on Marie Antoinette is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 50% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 AAA- queenA · sereneA · sceneA · captivity
- 2 AAA- skyA · nighA · spyA · captivity
- 3 AAA- despairA · careA · nearA · captivity
- 4 AAA- skyA · eyeA · sighA · captivity
- 5 AAA- bloomA · doomA · gloomA · captivity
- 6 AAA- highA · eyeA · skyA · captivity
- 7 AAA- proveA · aboveA · loveA · captivity
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Behold where Gallia’s captive queen, | 8 | ˘/·/˘/˘· |
| With steady eye and look serene, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| In life’s last awful—awful scene, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Slow leaves her sad captivity. | 8 | ····˘/˘˘ |
| Hark! the shrill horn that rends the sky | 8 | ········ |
| Bespeaks thy ready murder nigh, | 8 | ˘/·/˘/˘· |
| The long parade of death I spy, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| And leave my lone captivity. | 8 | ····˘/˘˘ |
| Farewell, ye mansions of despair, | 8 | ·/·/˘·˘/ |
| Scenes of my sad sequestered care. | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| The balm of bleeding war is near. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Adieu, my lone captivity. | 8 | ˘/··˘/˘˘ |
| To purer mansions in the sky, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Fair Hope directs my grief-worn eye, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Where sorrow’s child no more shall sigh | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Amid her lone captivity. | 8 | ˘/··˘/˘˘ |
| Adieu, ye babes whose infant bloom | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| Beneath oppression’s lawless doom, | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| Pines in the solitary gloom | 8 | ···/˘·˘· |
| Of undeserved captivity. | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘˘ |
| O Power benign that rul’st on high, | 8 | ·/˘/···· |
| Cast down, cast down a pitying eye; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Shed consolation from the sky, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| To soothe their sad captivity. | 8 | ····˘/˘˘ |
| Now virtue’s sure reward to prove, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| I seek empyreal realms above, | 9 | ··˘/˘˘··· |
| To meet my long-departed love; | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Adieu my lone captivity. | 8 | ˘/··˘/˘˘ |
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