Analysis of Epitaph on Sir Palmes Fairborne's Tomb in Westminster Abbey

John Dryden 1631 (Aldwincle) – 1631 (London)



Ye sacred relics, which your marble keep,
Here, undisturbed by wars, in quiet sleep;
Discharge the trust, which, when it was below,
Fairborne's undaunted soul did undergo,
And be the town's palladium from the foe.
Alive and dead these walls he will defend:
Great actions great examples must attend.
The Candian siege his early valour knew,
Where Turkish blood did his young hands imbrue.
From thence returning with deserved applause,
Against the Moors his well-fleshed sword he draws;
The same the courage, and the same the cause.
His youth and age, his life and death, combine,
As in some great and regular design,
All of a piece throughout, and all divine.
Still nearer heaven his virtues shone more bright,
Like rising flames expanding in their height;
The martyr's glory crowned the soldier's fight.
More bravely British general never fell,
Nor general's death was e'er revenged so well;
Which his pleased eyes beheld before their close,
Followed by thousand victims of his foes.
To his lamented loss, for time to come,
His pious widow consecrates this tomb.


Scheme AABBBCCDEFFGHHHIIIJJKLMN
Poetic Form
Metre 1101011101 101110101 0101111101 10101101 01010100101 0101111101 1101010101 01111011 110111111 1101010101 0101111111 0101000101 1101110110 1011010001 1101010101 11010110111 1101010011 011010101 11010100101 11001110111 111110111 1011010111 1101011111 11010111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,070
Words 178
Sentences 9
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 24
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 846
Words per stanza (avg) 176
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

55 sec read
90

John Dryden

John Dryden was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who was made Poet Laureate in 1668. more…

All John Dryden poems | John Dryden Books

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