Epitaph
The Lady Mary Villiers liesUnder this stone; with weeping eyesThe parents that first gave her birth,And their sad friends, laid her in earth.If any of them, Reader, wereKnown unto thee, shed a tear;Or if thyself possess a gemAs dear to thee, as this to them,Though a stranger to this place,Bewail in theirs thine own hard case:For thou perhaps at thy returnMay’st find thy Darling in an urn.
About this text
Epitaph is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1900, Project Gutenberg ebook #66619; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Thomas Carew, Epitaph, in Poems (1595–1639), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/obev-thomas-carew/epitaph.html, id L16076.
Form and metre
Epitaph is 12 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 83% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.8 syllables. 42% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 AABB--CCDDEE liesA · eyesA · birthB · earthB · were · tear · gemC · themC · placeD · caseD · returnE · urnE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The Lady Mary Villiers lies | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Under this stone; with weeping eyes | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The parents that first gave her birth, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And their sad friends, laid her in earth. | 8 | ········ |
| If any of them, Reader, were | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Known unto thee, shed a tear; | 7 | ······· |
| Or if thyself possess a gem | 8 | ··˘/˘/·· |
| As dear to thee, as this to them, | 8 | ········ |
| Though a stranger to this place, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Bewail in theirs thine own hard case: | 8 | ˘/······ |
| For thou perhaps at thy return | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| May’st find thy Darling in an urn. | 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.