To a Dead Friend
It is as if a silver chordWere suddenly grown mute,And life's song with its rhythm warredAgainst a silver lute.
It is as if a silence fellWhere bides the garnered sheaf,And voices murmuring, "It is well,"Are stifled by our grief.
It is as if the gloom of nightHad hid a summer's day,And willows, sighing at their plight,Bent low beside the way.
For he was part of all the bestThat Nature loves and gives,And ever more on Memory's breastHe lies and laughs and lives.
Words in this poem
- plight v. t.
- To weave; to braid; to fold; to plait. [OE. pliten; probably through Old French, fr. LL. plectare, L. plectere. See Plait, Ply.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To a Dead Friend is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar, Project Gutenberg ebook #18338; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Paul Laurence Dunbar, To a Dead Friend, in The Complete Poems (1893–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18338, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dunbar-poems/to-a-dead-friend.html, id L00784.
Form and metre
To a Dead Friend is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 38% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in common measure.
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 chordA · muteB · warredA · luteB
- 2 ABAB fellA · sheafB · wellA · griefB
- 3 ABAB nightA · dayB · plightA · wayB
- 4 ABAB bestA · givesB · breastA · livesB
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| It is as if a silver chord | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Were suddenly grown mute, | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| And life's song with its rhythm warred | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Against a silver lute. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| It is as if a silence fell | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Where bides the garnered sheaf, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And voices murmuring, "It is well," | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Are stifled by our grief. | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| It is as if the gloom of night | 8 | ········ |
| Had hid a summer's day, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And willows, sighing at their plight, | 8 | ·/·/˘··· |
| Bent low beside the way. | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| For he was part of all the best | 8 | ········ |
| That Nature loves and gives, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And ever more on Memory's breast | 8 | ·/··/˘˘· |
| He lies and laughs and lives. | 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.