Written in May, 1745 (Variations)
E'en now regardful of his doomApplauding Honour haunts his tomb,With shadowy trophies crown'd:Whilst Freedom's form beside her roves,Majestic through the twilight groves,And calls her heroes round.
O'er him, whose doom thy virtues grieve,Aërial forms shall sit at eve,And bend the pensive head;And, fallen to save his injured land,Imperial Honour's awful handShall point his lonely bed.
Words in this poem
- regardful a.
- Heedful; attentive; observant.
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Written in May, 1745 (Variations) is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of William Collins; With a Memoir, Project Gutenberg ebook #29879; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Collins, Written in May, 1745 (Variations), in Ode to Evening, and Other Poems (1746), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #29879, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/collins-poems/written-in-may-1745-variations.html, id L13349.
Form and metre
Written in May, 1745 (Variations) is 12 lines in 2 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABCCB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
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 AABCCB doomA · tombA · crown'dB · rovesC · grovesC · roundB
- 2 AABCCB grieveA · eveA · headB · landC · handC · bedB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| E'en now regardful of his doom | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Applauding Honour haunts his tomb, | 8 | ˘/˘/˘··· |
| With shadowy trophies crown'd: | 7 | ·/˘˘/˘· |
| Whilst Freedom's form beside her roves, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| Majestic through the twilight groves, | 8 | ˘/˘··/·· |
| And calls her heroes round. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| O'er him, whose doom thy virtues grieve, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Aërial forms shall sit at eve, | 7 | ······· |
| And bend the pensive head; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And, fallen to save his injured land, | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| Imperial Honour's awful hand | 8 | ˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| Shall point his lonely bed. | 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.