Epitaph on Elizabeth, L. H
WOULDST thou hear what man can sayIn a little? Reader, stay.Underneath this stone doth lieAs much beauty as could dieWhich in life did harbour giveTo more virtue than doth live.If, at all, she had a faultLeave it buried in this vault.One name was Elizabeth,The other let it sleep with death.Fitter, where it died, to tell,Than that it lived at all. Farewell.
Words in this poem
- harbour n.
- A station for rest and entertainment; a place of security and comfort; a refuge; a shelter. [OE herbor, herberwe, herberge, Icel. herbergi (cf. OHG. heriberga), orig., a shelter for soldiers; herr army + bjarga to save, help, defend; akin to AS. here ar]
- fitter n.
- A little piece; a flitter; a flinder.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Epitaph on Elizabeth, L. H is in the public domain. This text is taken from Discoveries Made Upon Men and Matter and Some Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #5134; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Ben Jonson, Epitaph on Elizabeth, L. H, in Discoveries Made Upon Men and Matter and Some Poems (1616), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5134, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/jonson-poems/epitaph-on-elizabeth-l-h.html, id L23804.
Form and metre
Epitaph on Elizabeth, L. H is 12 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in trochaic 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 AABBCCDDEEFF sayA · stayA · lieB · dieB · giveC · liveC · faultD · vaultD · elizabethE · deathE · tellF · farewellF
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| WOULDST thou hear what man can say | 7 | ······· |
| In a little? Reader, stay. | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Underneath this stone doth lie | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| As much beauty as could die | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Which in life did harbour give | 7 | ····/˘· |
| To more virtue than doth live. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| If, at all, she had a fault | 7 | ······· |
| Leave it buried in this vault. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| One name was Elizabeth, | 7 | ···˘/˘˘ |
| The other let it sleep with death. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Fitter, where it died, to tell, | 7 | /˘····· |
| Than that it lived at all. Farewell. | 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.