Analysis of To Time
George Gordon Lord Byron 1788 (London) – 1824 (Missolonghi, Aetolia)
Time! on whose arbitrary wing
The varying hours must flag or fly,
Whose tardy winter, fleeting spring,
But drag or drive us on to die---
Hail thou! who on my birth bestowed
Those boons to all that know thee known;
Yet better I sustain thy load,
For now I bear the weight alone.
I would not one fond heart should share
The bitter moments thou hast given;
And pardon thee---since thou couldst spare
All that I loved, to peace or Heaven.
To them be joy or rest---on me
Thy future ills shall press in vain;
I nothing owe but years to thee,
A debt already paid in pain.
Yet even that pain was some relief;
It felt, but still forgot thy power:
The active agony of grief
Retards, but never counts the hour.
In joy I've sighed to think thy flight
Would soon subside from swift to slow;
Thy cloud could overcast the light,
But could not add a night to Woe;
For then, however drear and dark,
My soul was suited to thy sky;
One star alone shot forth a spark
To prove thee---not Eternity.
That beam hath sunk---and now thou art
A blank---a thing to count and curse
Through each dull tedious trifling part,
Which all regret, yet all rehearse.
One scene even thou canst not deform---
The limit of thy sloth or speed
When future wanderers bear the storm
Which we shall sleep too sound to heed.
And I can smile to think how weak
Thine efforts shortly shall be shown,
When all the vengeance thou canst wreak
Must fall upon---a nameless stone.
Scheme | ABABCDCDEFEFGHGHIJIJKLKLMBMGNONOPQPQRDRD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (30%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 1111001 0100101111 11010101 11111111 11111101 11111111 11010111 11110101 11111111 010101110 01011111 111111110 11111111 11011101 11011111 01010101 110111101 111101110 01010011 011101010 01111111 11011111 1111001 11110111 1110101 11110111 11011101 11110100 11110111 01011101 111100101 11011101 11101111 01011111 110100101 11111111 01111111 11010111 11010111 11010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,454 |
Words | 268 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 40 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,103 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 266 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 29, 2023
- 1:20 min read
- 151 Views
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"To Time" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/15299/to-time>.
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