The Dead Child
Sleep on, dear, nowThe last sleep and the best,And on thy brow,And on thy quiet breastViolets I throw.
Thy scanty yearsWere mine a little while;Life had no fearsTo trouble thy brief smileWith toil or tears.
Lie still, and beFor evermore a child!Not grudgingly,Whom life has not defiled,I render thee.
Slumber so deep,No man would rashly wake;I hardly weep,Fain only, for thy sake.To share thy sleep.
Yes, to be dead,Dead, here with thee to-day,--When all is said'Twere good by thee to layMy weary head.
The very best!Ah, child so tired of play,I stand confessed:I want to come thy way,And share thy rest.
Words in this poem
- evermore adv.
- During eternity; always; forever; for an indefinite period; at all times; -- often used substantively with for.
- grudgingly adv.
- In a grudging manner.
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Dead Child is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems and Prose of Ernest Dowson, With a Memoir by Arthur Symons, Project Gutenberg ebook #8497; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Ernest Dowson, The Dead Child, in The Poems of Ernest Dowson (1896–1899), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8497, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dowson-poems/the-dead-child.html, id L01664.
Form and metre
The Dead Child is 30 lines in 6 stanzas of 5 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABA, complete in 5 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is iambic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 4.9 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 iambic dimeter.
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 ABAB- nowA · bestB · browA · breastB · throw
- 2 ABABA yearsA · whileB · fearsA · smileB · tearsA
- 3 ABABA beA · childB · grudginglyA · defiledB · theeA
- 4 ABABA deepA · wakeB · weepA · sakeB · sleepA
- 5 ABABA deadA · dayB · saidA · layB · headA
- 6 ABABA bestA · playB · confessedA · wayB · restA
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 dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Sleep on, dear, now | 4 | ···· |
| The last sleep and the best, | 6 | ······ |
| And on thy brow, | 4 | ···· |
| And on thy quiet breast | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Violets I throw. | 5 | /˘˘·· |
| Thy scanty years | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Were mine a little while; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Life had no fears | 4 | ···· |
| To trouble thy brief smile | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| With toil or tears. | 4 | ···· |
| Lie still, and be | 4 | ···· |
| For evermore a child! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Not grudgingly, | 4 | ·/˘˘ |
| Whom life has not defiled, | 6 | ······ |
| I render thee. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Slumber so deep, | 4 | /˘·· |
| No man would rashly wake; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I hardly weep, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Fain only, for thy sake. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| To share thy sleep. | 4 | ···· |
| Yes, to be dead, | 4 | ···· |
| Dead, here with thee to-day,-- | 6 | ······ |
| When all is said | 4 | ···· |
| 'Twere good by thee to lay | 6 | ······ |
| My weary head. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| The very best! | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Ah, child so tired of play, | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| I stand confessed: | 4 | ··˘/ |
| I want to come thy way, | 6 | ······ |
| And share thy rest. | 4 | ···· |
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.