At the Grave of Burns, 1803. Seven Years After His Death
I shiver, Spirit fierce and bold,At thought of what I now behold:As vapours breathed from dungeons coldStrike pleasure dead,So sadness comes from out the mouldWhere Burns is laid.
And have I then thy bones so near,And thou forbidden to appear?As if it were thyself that's hereI shrink with pain;And both my wishes and my fearAlike are vain.Off weight--nor press on weight!--awayDark thoughts!--they came, but not to stay;With chastened feelings would I payThe tribute dueTo him, and aught that hides his clayFrom mortal view.
Fresh as the flower, whose modest worthHe sang, his genius "glinted" forth,Rose like a star that touching earth,For so it seems,Doth glorify its humble birthWith matchless beams.
The piercing eye, the thoughtful brow,The struggling heart, where be they now?--Full soon the Aspirant of the plough,The prompt, the brave,Slept, with the obscurest, in the lowAnd silent grave.
I mourned with thousands, but as oneMore deeply grieved, for He was goneWhose light I hailed when first it shone,And showed my youthHow Verse may build a princely throneOn humble truth.
Alas! where'er the current tends,Regret pursues and with it blends,--Huge Criffel's hoary top ascendsBy Skiddaw seen,--Neighbours we were, and loving friendsWe might have been;
True friends though diversely inclined;But heart with heart and mind with mind,Where the main fibres are entwined,Through Nature's skill,May even by contraries be joinedMore closely still.
The tear will start, and let it flow;Thou "poor Inhabitant below,"At this dread moment--even so--Might we togetherHave sate and talked where gowans blow,Or on wild heather.
What treasures would have then been placedWithin my reach; of knowledge gracedBy fancy what a rich repast!But why go on?--Oh! spare to sweep, thou mournful blast,His grave grass-grown.
There, too, a Son, his joy and pride,(Not three weeks past the Stripling died,)Lies gathered to his Father's side,Soul-moving sight!Yet one to which is not deniedSome sad delight.
For he is safe, a quiet bedHath early found among the dead,Harboured where none can be misled,Wronged, or distrest;And surely here it may be saidThat such are blest.
And oh for Thee, by pitying graceChecked oft-times in a devious race,May He who halloweth the placeWhere Man is laidReceive thy Spirit in the embraceFor which it prayed!
Sighing I turned away; but ereNight fell I heard, or seemed to hear,Music that sorrow comes not near,A ritual hymn,Chanted in love that casts out fearBy Seraphim.
Words in this poem 16
- sadness n.
- Heaviness; firmness.
- mould n.
- Crumbling, soft, friable earth; esp., earth containing the remains or constituents of organic matter, and suited to the growth of plants; soil. [OE. molde, AS. molde; akin to D. mul, G. mull, mulm, OHG. molt, molta, Icel. mold, Dan. muld, Sw. mull, Goth. mulda, and E. meal flour. See Meal, and cf. Mole a]
- chastened a.
- Corrected; disciplined; refined; purified; toned down. Sir. W.
- aught n.
- Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
- glorify v. t.
- To make glorious by bestowing glory upon; to confer honor and distinction upon; to elevate to power or happiness, or to celestial glory. [F. glorifier, L. glorificare; gloria glory + - ficare (in comp.) to make. See -fy.]
- aspirant n.
- One who aspires; one who eagerly seeks some high position or object of attainment. [Cf. F. aspirant.]
- hoary a.
- White or whitish."The hoary willows."
- skiddaw n.
- The black guillemot.
- diversely adv.
- In different ways; differently; variously.
- contraries n.
- Propositions which directly and destructively contradict each other, but of which the falsehood of one does not establish the truth of the other. [Pl. of Contrary, n.]
- sate v. t.
- To satisfy the desire or appetite of; to satiate; to glut; to surfeit. [Probably shortened fr. satiate: cf. L. satus full. See Satiate.]
- graced a.
- Endowed with grace; beautiful; full of graces; honorable.
- stripling n.
- A youth in the state of adolescence, or just passing from boyhood to manhood; a lad. [Dim. of strip; as if a small strip from the main stock or steam.]
- pitying a.
- Expressing pity; as, a pitying eye, glance, or word.
- devious a.
- Out of a straight line; winding; varying from directness; as, a devious path or way. [L. devius; de + via way. See Viaduct.]
- seraphim n.
- The Hebrew plural of Seraph. Cf. Cherubim.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
At the Grave of Burns, 1803. Seven Years After His Death is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 2 (of 8), Project Gutenberg ebook #12145; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Wordsworth, At the Grave of Burns, 1803. Seven Years After His Death, in The Poetical Works, Volume II (1798–1807), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12145, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wordsworth-vol2/at-the-grave-of-burns-1803-seven-years-after-his-death.html, id L17382.
Form and metre
At the Grave of Burns, 1803. Seven Years After His Death is 84 lines in 13 stanzas. The commonest rhyme scheme is AAABAB, in 4 of the 13 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.7 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 36% 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 AAA-A- boldA · beholdA · coldA · dead · mouldA · laid
- 2 AAABABCCCDCD nearA · appearA · hereA · painB · fearA · vainB · awayC · stayC · payC · dueD · clayC · viewD
- 3 A-ABAB worthA · forth · earthA · seemsB · birthA · beamsB
- 4 AAAB-B browA · nowA · ploughA · braveB · low · graveB
- 5 --ABAB one · gone · shoneA · youthB · throneA · truthB
- 6 AAA-A- tendsA · blendsA · ascendsA · seen · friendsA · been
- 7 AAAB-B inclinedA · mindA · entwinedA · skillB · joined · stillB
- 8 AAABAB flowA · belowA · soA · togetherB · blowA · heatherB
- 9 AAB-B- placedA · gracedA · repastB · on · blastB · grown
- 10 AAABAB prideA · diedA · sideA · sightB · deniedA · delightB
- 11 AAABAB bedA · deadA · misledA · distrestB · saidA · blestB
- 12 AAABAB graceA · raceA · placeA · laidB · embraceA · prayedB
- 13 AAA-A- ereA · hearA · nearA · hymn · fearA · seraphim
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I shiver, Spirit fierce and bold, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| At thought of what I now behold: | 8 | ······˘/ |
| As vapours breathed from dungeons cold | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Strike pleasure dead, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| So sadness comes from out the mould | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Where Burns is laid. | 4 | ···· |
| And have I then thy bones so near, | 8 | ········ |
| And thou forbidden to appear? | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
| As if it were thyself that's here | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| I shrink with pain; | 4 | ···· |
| And both my wishes and my fear | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Alike are vain. | 4 | ˘/·· |
| Off weight--nor press on weight!--away | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Dark thoughts!--they came, but not to stay; | 8 | ········ |
| With chastened feelings would I pay | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| The tribute due | 4 | ·/˘· |
| To him, and aught that hides his clay | 8 | ········ |
| From mortal view. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Fresh as the flower, whose modest worth | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| He sang, his genius "glinted" forth, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Rose like a star that touching earth, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| For so it seems, | 4 | ···· |
| Doth glorify its humble birth | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| With matchless beams. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| The piercing eye, the thoughtful brow, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The struggling heart, where be they now?-- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Full soon the Aspirant of the plough, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The prompt, the brave, | 4 | ···· |
| Slept, with the obscurest, in the low | 9 | ···˘/˘··· |
| And silent grave. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| I mourned with thousands, but as one | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| More deeply grieved, for He was gone | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Whose light I hailed when first it shone, | 8 | ········ |
| And showed my youth | 4 | ···· |
| How Verse may build a princely throne | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| On humble truth. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Alas! where'er the current tends, | 9 | ˘/˘˘/·/˘· |
| Regret pursues and with it blends,-- | 8 | ˘/˘/···· |
| Huge Criffel's hoary top ascends | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| By Skiddaw seen,-- | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Neighbours we were, and loving friends | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| We might have been; | 4 | ···· |
| True friends though diversely inclined; | 8 | ···/˘˘˘/ |
| But heart with heart and mind with mind, | 8 | ········ |
| Where the main fibres are entwined, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Through Nature's skill, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| May even by contraries be joined | 8 | ·/·/˘˘·· |
| More closely still. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| The tear will start, and let it flow; | 8 | ········ |
| Thou "poor Inhabitant below," | 8 | ··˘/˘˘·· |
| At this dread moment--even so-- | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Might we together | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| Have sate and talked where gowans blow, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Or on wild heather. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| What treasures would have then been placed | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Within my reach; of knowledge graced | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| By fancy what a rich repast! | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| But why go on?-- | 4 | ···· |
| Oh! spare to sweep, thou mournful blast, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| His grave grass-grown. | 4 | ···· |
| There, too, a Son, his joy and pride, | 8 | ········ |
| (Not three weeks past the Stripling died,) | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Lies gathered to his Father's side, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Soul-moving sight! | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Yet one to which is not denied | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Some sad delight. | 4 | ··˘/ |
| For he is safe, a quiet bed | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Hath early found among the dead, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Harboured where none can be misled, | 8 | /˘····˘/ |
| Wronged, or distrest; | 4 | ···· |
| And surely here it may be said | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| That such are blest. | 4 | ···· |
| And oh for Thee, by pitying grace | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Checked oft-times in a devious race, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| May He who halloweth the place | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| Where Man is laid | 4 | ···· |
| Receive thy Spirit in the embrace | 8 | ˘/·/··˘/ |
| For which it prayed! | 4 | ···· |
| Sighing I turned away; but ere | 8 | /˘··˘/·· |
| Night fell I heard, or seemed to hear, | 8 | ········ |
| Music that sorrow comes not near, | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| A ritual hymn, | 5 | ·/˘˘· |
| Chanted in love that casts out fear | 8 | /˘······ |
| By Seraphim. | 4 | ·/˘˘ |
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.