Epitaph
Whilst Britain boasts her empire o'er the deep,This marble shall compel the brave to weep:As men, as Britons, and as soldiers, mourn;'Tis dauntless, loyal, virtuous Beauclerk's urn.Sweet were his manners, as his soul was great,And ripe his worth, though immature his fate;Each tender grace that joy and love inspires,Living, he mingled with his martial fires:Dying, he bid Britannia's thunders roar;And Spain still felt him, when he breath'd no more.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- dauntless a.
- Incapable of being daunted; undaunted; bold; fearless; intrepid.
- virtuous a.
- Possessing or exhibiting virtue. Specifically: -- (a) Exhibiting manly courage and strength; valorous; valiant; brave. [OE. vertuous, OF. vertuos, vertuous, F. vertueux, fr. L. Virtuous. See Virtue, and cf. Virtuoso.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Epitaph is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Edward Young, Volume 2, Project Gutenberg ebook #18827; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edward Young, Epitaph, in The Poetical Works, Volume II (1742–1745), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18827, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/young-night-thoughts/epitaph.html, id L09472.
Form and metre
Epitaph is 10 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 80% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 AA--BBCCDD deepA · weepA · mourn · urn · greatB · fateB · inspiresC · firesC · roarD · moreD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Whilst Britain boasts her empire o'er the deep, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| This marble shall compel the brave to weep: | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| As men, as Britons, and as soldiers, mourn; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| 'Tis dauntless, loyal, virtuous Beauclerk's urn. | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Sweet were his manners, as his soul was great, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And ripe his worth, though immature his fate; | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Each tender grace that joy and love inspires, | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Living, he mingled with his martial fires: | 11 | /˘·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Dying, he bid Britannia's thunders roar; | 10 | /˘··˘/˘/˘· |
| And Spain still felt him, when he breath'd no more. | 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.