Love's Burial-Place
Lady. If Love be dead--Poet. And I aver it!Lady. Tell me, Bard! where Love lies buriedPoet. Love lies buried where 'twas born:Oh, gentle dame! think it no scornIf, in my fancy, I presumeTo call thy bosom poor Love's Tomb.And on that tomb to read the line:--"Here lies a Love that once seem'd mine.But took a chill, as I divine,And died at length of a decline."
Words in this poem
- aver n.
- A work horse, or working ox. [OF. aver domestic animal, whence LL. averia, pl. cattle. See Habit, and cf. Average.]
- dame n.
- A mistress of a family, who is a lady; a womam in authority; especially, a lady. [F. dame, LL. domna, fr. L. domina mistress, lady, fem. of dominus master, ruler, lord; akin to domare to tame, subdue. See Tame, and cf. Dam mother, Dan, Danger]
- presume v. t.
- To assume or take beforehand; esp., to do or undertake without leave or authority previously obtained. [F. présumer, L. praesumere, praesumptum; prae before + sumere to take. See Assume, Redeem.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Love's Burial-Place is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems of Coleridge, Project Gutenberg ebook #8208; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Love's Burial-Place, in Poems of Coleridge (1796–1817), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8208, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/coleridge-poems/love-s-burial-place.html, id L00357.
Form and metre
Love's Burial-Place is 11 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 73% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 27% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 A-ABBCCDDDD deadA · it · buriedA · bornB · scornB · presumeC · tombC · lineD · mineD · divineD · declineD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Lady. If Love be dead-- | 6 | /˘···· |
| Poet. And I aver it! | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Lady. Tell me, Bard! where Love lies buried | 10 | /˘······/˘ |
| Poet. Love lies buried where 'twas born: | 9 | /˘··/˘··· |
| Oh, gentle dame! think it no scorn | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| If, in my fancy, I presume | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| To call thy bosom poor Love's Tomb. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And on that tomb to read the line:-- | 8 | ········ |
| "Here lies a Love that once seem'd mine. | 8 | ········ |
| But took a chill, as I divine, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And died at length of a decline." | 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.