Analysis of Answer To A Beautiful Poem, Entitled 'The Common Lot'
George Gordon Lord Byron 1788 (London) – 1824 (Missolonghi, Aetolia)
MONTGOMERY! true, the common lot
Of mortals lies in Lethe's wave;
Yet some shall never be forgot,
Some shall exist beyond the grave.
'Unknown the region of his birth,'
The hero rolls the tide of war;
Yet not unknown his martial worth,
Which glares a meteor from afar.
His joy or grief; his weal or woe,
Perchance may 'scape the page of fame;
Yet nations now unborn will know
The record of his deathless name.
The patriot's and the poet's frame
Must share the common tomb of all:
Their glory will not sleep the same;
That will arise, though empires fail.
The lustre of a beauty's eye
Assumes the ghastly stare of death;
The fair, the brave, the good must die,
And sink the yawning grave beneath
Once more the speaking eye revive,
Still beaming through the lover's strain;
For Petrarch's Laura still survives:
She died, but ne'er will die again.
The rolling seasons pass away,
And Time, untiring, waves his wing;
Whilst honour's laurel ne'er decay,
But bloom in fresh, unfading spring.
All, all must sleep in grim repose,
Collected in the silent tomb;
The old and young, with friends and foes,
Fest'ring alike in shrouds, consume.
The mouldering marble lasts its day,
Yet falls at length an useless fane;
To ruin's ruthless fangs a prey,
The wrecks of pillar'd pride remain.
What, though the sculpture he destroy'd,
From dark oblivion meant to ward;
A bright renown shall he enjoy'd
By those whose virtues claim reward
Then do not say the common lot
Of all lies deep in Lethe's wave;
Some few who ne'er will be forgot
Shall burst the bondage of the grave.
Scheme | ABAB CXCX DEDE EXEX FXFX XGXX HIHI JKJK HGHG LMLM ABAB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (64%) |
Metre | 01010101 1101011 11110101 11010101 01010111 01010111 11011101 110100101 11111111 01110111 11011111 0011111 010000101 11010111 11011101 110111001 0101011 01010111 01010111 01010101 11010101 11010101 1110101 11111101 01010101 011111 1110101 110111 11110101 01000101 01011101 11010101 0110111 11111101 1110101 01110101 11010101 110100111 01011101 11110101 11110101 1111011 11111101 11010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,537 |
Words | 278 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 11 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 44 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 110 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 25 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 29, 2023
- 1:27 min read
- 256 Views
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"Answer To A Beautiful Poem, Entitled 'The Common Lot'" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/15037/answer-to-a-beautiful-poem%2C-entitled-%27the-common-lot%27>.
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