Analysis of In the valley of the waters we wept o'er the day
George Gordon Lord Byron 1788 (London) – 1824 (Missolonghi, Aetolia)
When some proud son of man returns to earth,
Unknown to glory, but upheld by birth,
The sculptor's art exhausts the pomp of woe,
And storied urns record who rest below:
When all is done, upon the tomb is seen,
Not what he was, but what he should have been:
But the poor dog, in life the firmest friend,
The first to welcome, foremost to defend,
Whose honest heart, is still his master's own,
Who labours, fights, lives, breathes for him alone,
Unhonour'd falls, unnoticed all his worth,
Denied in heaven the soul he held on earth,
While man, vain insect! hopes to be forgiven,
And claims himself a sole exclusive heaven.
Oh man! thou feeble tenant of an hour,
Debased by slavery, or corrupt by power,
Who knows thee well must quit thee with disgust,
Degraded mass of animated dust!
Thy love is lust, thy friendship all a cheat,
Thy smiles hypocrisy, thy words deceit!
By nature vile, ennobled but by name,
Each kindred brute might bid thee blush for shame.
Ye! who perchance behold this simple urn,
Pass on--it honours none you wish to mourn:
To mark a friend's remains these stones arise;
I never knew but one,--and here he lies.
Scheme | AABBCDEEFFAAGGHHIIJJKKLMNN |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111110111 0111010111 011010111 0101011101 1111010111 1111111111 1011010101 011101101 1101111101 111111101 11010111 01010011111 1111111010 01010101010 11110101110 011100101110 1111111101 010111001 1111110101 1101001101 1101010111 1101111111 1101011101 111111111 1101011101 1101110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,113 |
Words | 206 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 26 |
Lines Amount | 26 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 875 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 203 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:03 min read
- 88 Views
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"In the valley of the waters we wept o'er the day" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/15119/in-the-valley-of-the-waters-we-wept-o%27er-the-day>.
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