Analysis of The Tear
George Gordon Lord Byron 1788 (London) – 1824 (Missolonghi, Aetolia)
When Friendship or Love
Our sympathies move;
When Truth, in a glance, should appear,
The lips may beguile,
With a dimple or smile,
But the test of affection's a Tear:
Too oft is a smile
But the hypocrite's wile,
To mask detestation, or fear;
Give me the soft sigh,
Whilst the soultelling eye
Is dimm'd, for a time, with a Tear:
Mild Charity's glow,
To us mortals below,
Shows the soul from barbarity clear;
Compassion will melt,
Where this virtue is felt,
And its dew is diffused in a Tear:
The man, doom'd to sail
With the blast of the gale,
Through billows Atlantic to steer,
As he bends o'er the wave
Which may soon be his grave,
The green sparkles bright with a Tear;
The Soldier braves death
For a fanciful wreath
In Glory's romantic career;
But he raises the foe
When in battle laid low,
And bathes every wound with a Tear.
If, with high-bounding pride,
He return to his bride!
Renouncing the gore-crimson'd spear;
All his toils are repaid
When, embracing the maid,
From her eyelid he kisses the Tear.
Sweet scene of my youth!
Seat of Friendship and Truth,
Where Love chas'd each fast-fleeting year
Loth to leave thee, I mourn'd,
For a last look I turn'd,
But thy spire was scarce seen through a Tear:
Though my vows I can pour,
To my Mary no more,
My Mary, to Love once so dear,
In the shade of her bow'r,
I remember the hour,
She rewarded those vows with a Tear.
By another possest,
May she live ever blest!
Her name still my heart must revere:
With a sigh I resign,
What I once thought was mine,
And forgive her deceit with a Tear.
Ye friends of my heart,
Ere from you I depart,
This hope to my breast is most near:
If again we shall meet,
In this rural retreat,
May we meet, as we part, with a Tear.
When my soul wings her flight
To the regions of night,
And my corse shall recline on its bier;
As ye pass by the tomb,
Where my ashes consume,
Oh! moisten their dust with a Tear.
Scheme | XXABBC BBADDC EEAFFC GGAHHC XXAEEC IIAJJC KKAXXC LLAXXC FXAMMC NNAOOC PPXQQC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11011 101001 11001101 01101 101011 1011101 11101 1011 11111 11011 1011 11101101 11001 111001 101101001 01011 111011 011101001 01111 101101 11001011 1111001 111111 01101101 01011 101001 0101001 111001 101011 011001101 111101 101111 0100111 111101 101001 10111001 11111 111001 11111101 111111 101111 111111101 111111 111011 11011111 0011011 1010010 101011101 10101 111101 01111101 101101 111111 001001101 11111 111101 11111111 101111 011001 111111101 111101 101011 011101111 111101 111001 11011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,960 |
Words | 362 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 11 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 66 |
Letters per line (avg) | 22 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 131 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 33 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 20, 2023
- 1:52 min read
- 167 Views
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"The Tear" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/15245/the-tear>.
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