Analysis of There Was A Time, I Need Not Name

George Gordon Lord Byron 1788 (London) – 1824 (Missolonghi, Aetolia)



There was a time, I need not name,
   Since it will ne'er forgotten be,
When all our feelings were the same
   As still my soul hath been to thee.

And from that hour when first thy tongue
   Confess'd a love which equall'd mine,
Though many a grief my heart hath wrung,
   Unknown, and thus unfelt, by thine,

None, none hath sunk so deep as this---
   To think how all that love hath flown;
Transient as every faithless kiss,
   But transient in thy breast alone.

And yet my heart some solace knew,
   When late I heard thy lips declare,
In accents once imagined true,
   Remembrance of the days that were.

Yes! my adored, yet most unkind!
   Though thou wilt never love again,
To me 'tis doubly sweet to find
   Remembrance of that love remain.

Yes! 'tis a glorious thought to me,
   Nor longer shall my soul repine,
Whate'er thou art or e'er shalt be,
   Thou hast been dearly, solely mine.


Scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GXGX HXHX BDBD
Poetic Form Quatrain  (67%)
Metre 11011111 11110101 111010001 11111111 011101111 0101111 110011111 0101111 11111111 11111111 10110011 11001101 01111101 11111101 01010101 01010110 11011101 11110101 11110111 01011101 110100111 1101111 101111011 111101001
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 877
Words 161
Sentences 9
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 28
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 110
Words per stanza (avg) 27
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

49 sec read
80

George Gordon Lord Byron

George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, known simply as Lord Byron, was an English poet, peer and politician who became a revolutionary in the Greek War of Independence, and is considered one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement. He is regarded as one of the greatest English poets and remains widely read and influential. Among his best-known works are the lengthy narrative poems Don Juan and Childe Harold's Pilgrimage; many of his shorter lyrics in Hebrew Melodies also became popular. He travelled extensively across Europe, especially in Italy, where he lived for seven years in the cities of Venice, Ravenna, and Pisa. During his stay in Italy he frequently visited his friend and fellow poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Later in life Byron joined the Greek War of Independence fighting the Ottoman Empire and died of disease leading a campaign during that war, for which Greeks revere him as a national hero. He died in 1824 at the age of 36 from a fever contracted after the First and Second Siege of Missolonghi. His only legitimate child, Ada Lovelace, is regarded as a foundational figure in the field of computer programming based on her notes for Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine. Byron's illegitimate children include Allegra Byron, who died in childhood, and possibly Elizabeth Medora Leigh.  more…

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