Plant Flowers upon My Grave
Oft, oft I wander o'er the meadows,Where, midst the grass, the wild flowers blowYe sweet wild flowers I love to lingerAmidst your many-coloured glow.You bring dear thoughts of my beloved,And move my heart and swell my breast;Let 'flowers be culled when I am dying,And scattered on my place of rest.
I bend me o'er the flowers—sweet converseI hold with them—soft, silent, true;Tell them I love them—love them dearly,And ask them if they love me too?They answer not, but in their smilingA gentle answer is exprest;Let flowers be culled when I am dying,And scattered on my place of rest.
Sweet flowers! sweet flowers! your very fragranceIs eloquent,—the spirit's ear—In your vibrations,—heavenly musicFalling like sunny dews may hear.But, in the world's tumultuous uproar,The voice is still, of all most blest;O cull me flowers when I am dying,And fling them on my place of rest.
Yes! breath is language, and the breathingOf wakened flowers is sacred song;The mysteries of life surround me,Round me death's revelations throng.O strains of harmony—O incense,The sweetest and the holiest!Then gather flowers when I am dying,And fling them on my place of rest.
Yes! breath of flowers, your soft outpouringsShall be my lingering lullaby,And with a heavenly hymn support me,When on my dying bed I lie.The flower-awakening spring shall find meA slumberer on my mother's breast;So gather flowers when I am dying,And fling them on my place of rest.
Words in this poem
- amidst prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- coloured a.
- Having color; tinged; dyed; painted; stained.
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- cull v. t.
- To separate, select, or pick out; to choose and gather or collect; as, to cuil flowers. [OE., OF. cuillir, coillir, F.cueillir, to gather, pluck, pick, fr. L. colligere. See Coil, v. t., and cf. Collect.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- lullaby n.
- A song to quiet babes or lull them to sleep; that which quiets. [From Lull, v. t.]
- slumberer n.
- One who slumbers; a sleeper.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Plant Flowers upon My Grave is in the public domain. This text is taken from Translations from Alexander Petofi, the Magyar Poet, by Sir John Bowring (London: Trübner & Co., 1866), Internet Archive, the John Bowring translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Sándor Petőfi, Plant Flowers upon My Grave, in Translations from Alexander Petofi, the Magyar Poet (1866), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petofi-poems-bowring/plant-flowers-upon-my-grave.html, id L29824.
Form and metre
Plant Flowers upon My Grave is 40 lines in 5 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
See 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 -A-A-B-B meadows · blowA · linger · glowA · beloved · breastB · dying · restB
- 2 -A-A-B-B converse · trueA · dearly · tooA · smiling · exprestB · dying · restB
- 3 -A-A-B-B fragrance · earA · music · hearA · uproar · blestB · dying · restB
- 4 AA-A-BAB breathingA · songA · me · throngA · incense · holiestB · dyingA · restB
- 5 -ABABC-C outpourings · lullabyA · meB · lieA · meB · breastC · dying · restC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Oft, oft I wander o'er the meadows, | 9 | ···/˘··/· |
| Where, midst the grass, the wild flowers blow | 8 | ······/· |
| Ye sweet wild flowers I love to linger | 9 | ···/···/˘ |
| Amidst your many-coloured glow. | 8 | ˘/·/˘/˘· |
| You bring dear thoughts of my beloved, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And move my heart and swell my breast; | 8 | ········ |
| Let 'flowers be culled when I am dying, | 9 | ·/·····/˘ |
| And scattered on my place of rest. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| I bend me o'er the flowers—sweet converse | 9 | ·····/·/˘ |
| I hold with them—soft, silent, true; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Tell them I love them—love them dearly, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| And ask them if they love me too? | 8 | ········ |
| They answer not, but in their smiling | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| A gentle answer is exprest; | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Let flowers be culled when I am dying, | 9 | ·/·····/˘ |
| And scattered on my place of rest. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Sweet flowers! sweet flowers! your very fragrance | 9 | ·/·/·/˘/˘ |
| Is eloquent,—the spirit's ear— | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| In your vibrations,—heavenly music | 9 | ··˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| Falling like sunny dews may hear. | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| But, in the world's tumultuous uproar, | 9 | ·····/˘/· |
| The voice is still, of all most blest; | 8 | ········ |
| O cull me flowers when I am dying, | 9 | ···/···/˘ |
| And fling them on my place of rest. | 8 | ········ |
| Yes! breath is language, and the breathing | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Of wakened flowers is sacred song; | 8 | ·/˘/·/˘· |
| The mysteries of life surround me, | 8 | ·/˘··˘/· |
| Round me death's revelations throng. | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| O strains of harmony—O incense, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| The sweetest and the holiest! | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| Then gather flowers when I am dying, | 9 | ·/˘/···/˘ |
| And fling them on my place of rest. | 8 | ········ |
| Yes! breath of flowers, your soft outpourings | 9 | ···/···/˘ |
| Shall be my lingering lullaby, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And with a heavenly hymn support me, | 9 | ···/˘·˘/· |
| When on my dying bed I lie. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The flower-awakening spring shall find me | 9 | ·/˘/˘···· |
| A slumberer on my mother's breast; | 9 | ·/˘˘··/˘· |
| So gather flowers when I am dying, | 9 | ·/˘/···/˘ |
| And fling them on my place of rest. | 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.