Analysis of To Caroline: Oh When Shall The Grave Hide
George Gordon Lord Byron 1788 (London) – 1824 (Missolonghi, Aetolia)
Oh when shall the grave hide for ever my sorrow?
Oh when shall my soul wing her flight from this clay?
The present is hell, and the coming to-morrow
But brings, with new torture, the curse of to-day.
From my eye flows no tear, from my lips flow no curses
I blast not the fiends who have hurl'd me from bliss;
For poor is the soul which bewailing rehearses
Its querulous grief, when in anguish like this.
Was my eye, 'stead of tears, with red fury flakes bright'ning,
Would my lips breathe a flame which no stream could assuage
On our foes should my glance launch in vengeance its lightning,
With transport my tongue give loose to its rage.
But now tears and curses, alike unavailing,
Would add to the souls of our tyrants delight;
Could they view us our sad separation bewailing
Their merciless hearts would rejoice at the sight.
Yet still, though we bend with a feign'd resignation,
Life beams not for us with one ray that can cheer;
Love and hope upon earth bring no more consolation,
In the grave is our hope, for in life is our fear.
Oh! when, my adored, in the tomb will they place me,
Since, in life, love and friendship for ever are fled?
If again in the mansion of death I embrace thee,
Perhaps they will leave unmolested the dead.
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EFEF EGEG HIHI JKJK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 111011110110 11111101111 010110010110 11111001111 1111111111110 11101111111 1110111010 11001101011 1111111110111 111101111101 11011111010110 1011111111 11101001010 111011101001 11111010101 11001101101 11111101010 11111111111 101011111010 00111011011101 111010011111 101101011011 1010010111011 0111101001 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,224 |
Words | 232 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 40 |
Words per line (avg) | 10 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 162 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 38 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:10 min read
- 84 Views
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