The Exequies
Draw near,You lovers, that complainOf Fortune or Disdain,And to my ashes lend a tear.Melt the hard marble with your groans,And soften the relentless stones,Whose cold embraces the sad subject hide }Of all Love's cruelties, and Beauty's pride. }
No verse,No epicedium, bring;Nor peaceful requiem sing,To charm the terrors of my hearse;No profane numbers must flow nearThe sacred silence that dwells here.Vast griefs are dumb: softly, oh softly mourn!Lest you disturb the peace attends my urn.
Yet strewUpon my dismal graveSuch offerings as you have:Forsaken cypress, and sad yew;For kinder flowers can take no birthOr growth from such unhappy earth.Weep only o'er my dust, and say: "Here liesTo Love and Fate an equal sacrifice."
Words in this poem
- relentless a.
- Unmoved by appeals for sympathy or forgiveness; insensible to the distresses of others; destitute of tenderness; unrelenting; unyielding; unpitying; as, a prey to relentless despotism.
- requiem n.
- A mass said or sung for the repose of a departed soul. [Acc. of L. requies rest, the first words of the Mass being "Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine," give eternal rest to them, O lord; pref. re- re + quies quiet. S]
- dismal a.
- Fatal; ill-omened; unlucky. [Formerly a noun; e. g., "I trow it was in the dismalle." Chaucer. Of uncertain origin; but perh. (as suggested by Skeat) from OF. disme, F. dîme, tithe, the phr]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Exequies is in the public domain. This text is taken from Thomas Stanley: His Original Lyrics, Complete, In Their Collated Readings of 1647, 1651, 1657. With an Introduction, Textual Notes, a List of Editions, an Appendix of Translations, and a Portrait., Project Gutenberg ebook #32986; 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 Stanley, The Exequies, in Original Lyrics (1651), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #32986, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/stanley-lyrics/the-exequies.html, id L08983.
Form and metre
The Exequies is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.3 syllables. 33% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABBACCDD nearA · complainB · disdainB · tearA · groansC · stonesC · — · —
- 2 ABBACC-- verseA · bringB · singB · hearseA · nearC · hereC · mourn · urn
- 3 ABBACC-- strewA · graveB · haveB · yewA · birthC · earthC · lies · sacrifice
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Draw near, | 2 | ·· |
| You lovers, that complain | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Of Fortune or Disdain, | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| And to my ashes lend a tear. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Melt the hard marble with your groans, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And soften the relentless stones, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Whose cold embraces the sad subject hide } | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Of all Love's cruelties, and Beauty's pride. } | 9 | ···/˘·/˘· |
| No verse, | 2 | ·· |
| No epicedium, bring; | 6 | ······ |
| Nor peaceful requiem sing, | 7 | ·/˘/˘˘· |
| To charm the terrors of my hearse; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| No profane numbers must flow near | 8 | ·˘//˘··· |
| The sacred silence that dwells here. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Vast griefs are dumb: softly, oh softly mourn! | 10 | ····/˘·/˘· |
| Lest you disturb the peace attends my urn. | 10 | ··˘/··˘/·· |
| Yet strew | 2 | ·· |
| Upon my dismal grave | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Such offerings as you have: | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| Forsaken cypress, and sad yew; | 8 | ˘/˘/˘··· |
| For kinder flowers can take no birth | 8 | ·//˘···· |
| Or growth from such unhappy earth. | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Weep only o'er my dust, and say: "Here lies | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| To Love and Fate an equal sacrifice." | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
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.