On the Death of a Noble Lady
Time, when thou shalt bring againPallas from the Trojan plain,Portia from the Roman's hall,Brynhild from the fiery wall,Eleanor, whose fearless breathDrew the venom'd fangs of Death,And Philippa doubly braveOr to conquer or to save--
When thou shalt on one bestowAll their grace and all their glow,All their strength and all their state,All their passion pure and great,Some far age may honour thenSuch another queen of men.
Words in this poem
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- pallas n.
- Pallas Athene, the Grecian goddess of wisdom, called also Athene, and identified, at a later period, with the Roman Minerva.
- 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.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On the Death of a Noble Lady is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems: New and Old, Project Gutenberg ebook #24405; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry John Newbolt, On the Death of a Noble Lady, in Poems: New and Old (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #24405, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/newbolt-poems/on-the-death-of-a-noble-lady.html, id L11456.
Form and metre
On the Death of a Noble Lady is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.1 syllables. 36% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See 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 AABBCCDD againA · plainA · hallB · wallB · breathC · deathC · braveD · saveD
- 2 AABBCC bestowA · glowA · stateB · greatB · thenC · menC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Time, when thou shalt bring again | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Pallas from the Trojan plain, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Portia from the Roman's hall, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Brynhild from the fiery wall, | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| Eleanor, whose fearless breath | 7 | /˘˘·/˘· |
| Drew the venom'd fangs of Death, | 7 | ······· |
| And Philippa doubly brave | 7 | ·˘/˘/˘· |
| Or to conquer or to save-- | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| When thou shalt on one bestow | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| All their grace and all their glow, | 7 | ······· |
| All their strength and all their state, | 7 | ······· |
| All their passion pure and great, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Some far age may honour then | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Such another queen of men. | 7 | ·˘/˘··· |
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.