On the Death of Sir Henry Taylor
Fourscore and five times has the gradual yearRisen and fulfilled its days of youth and eldSince first the child's eyes opening first beheldLight, who now leaves behind to help us hereLight shed from song as starlight from a sphereSerene as summer; song whose charm compelledThe sovereign soul made flesh in ArteveldeTo stand august before us and austere,Half sad with mortal knowledge, all sublimeWith trust that takes no taint from change or time,Trust in man's might of manhood. Strong and sage,Clothed round with reverence of remembering hearts,He, twin-born with our nigh departing age,Into the light of peace and fame departs.
Words in this poem
- fourscore a.
- Four times twenty; eighty. [Four + core, n.]
- starlight n.
- The light given by the stars.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On the Death of Sir Henry Taylor is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems and Ballads (Third Series) Taken from The Collected Poetical Works of Algernon Charles Swinburne—Vol. III, Project Gutenberg ebook #18726; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Algernon Charles Swinburne, On the Death of Sir Henry Taylor, in Poems and Ballads (1866), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18726, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swinburne-poems-ballads/on-the-death-of-sir-henry-taylor.html, id L07096.
Form and metre
On the Death of Sir Henry Taylor is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAABBACCDEDE. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 57% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 ABBAABBACCDEDE yearA · eldB · beheldB · hereA · sphereA · compelledB · arteveldeB · austereA · sublimeC · timeC · sageD · heartsE · ageD · departsE
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Fourscore and five times has the gradual year | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| Risen and fulfilled its days of youth and eld | 11 | /˘·˘/······ |
| Since first the child's eyes opening first beheld | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Light, who now leaves behind to help us here | 10 | ·········· |
| Light shed from song as starlight from a sphere | 10 | ·····/···· |
| Serene as summer; song whose charm compelled | 10 | ˘/·/˘···˘/ |
| The sovereign soul made flesh in Artevelde | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| To stand august before us and austere, | 10 | ··/˘····˘/ |
| Half sad with mortal knowledge, all sublime | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| With trust that takes no taint from change or time, | 10 | ·········· |
| Trust in man's might of manhood. Strong and sage, | 10 | ·····/···· |
| Clothed round with reverence of remembering hearts, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| He, twin-born with our nigh departing age, | 10 | ····/·˘/˘· |
| Into the light of peace and fame departs. | 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.