Analysis of Mozart’s Grave

Alfred Austin 1835 (Leeds) – 1913 (Ashford)



Where lies Mozart? Tradition shows
A likely spot: so much, no more:
No words of his own time disclose
When crossed He to the Further Shore,
Though later ages, roused to shame,
On tardy tomb have carved his name.

The sexton asked, ``What may this be?''
``A Kapellmeister.'' ``Pass it in:
This common grave to all is free,
And for one more is room within.
It fills the fosse. Now tread it down,
With pauper, lunatic, and clown.''

Yet had he wizarded with sound
Electors, Cardinals, and Kings,
While there welled forth from source profound
The flow of silvery-sounding springs,
Music of tenderness and mirth,
One with his very soul at birth.

And they? Where are they now? The bust,
The elaborately carven tomb,
Whose scrolls, begrimed by age and dust,
None care to stoop and scan for whom,
Are all remaining to express
Their monumental nothingness.

Mitre, and coronet, and Crown,
Gaze into space that heeds them not,
Unmeaning pomp of dead renown,
Medley of Monarchs long forgot,
Who from the nations' ghastly strife
Won immortality-for life.

Once, on Nile's bank an artist raised
A temple at the King's command,
And on it name august emblazed.
But when a flood submerged the land,
His name was washed away, and lo!
The artist's own stood out below.

Thus vanish ostentatious lives,
But, through all time, belov'd Mozart,
Your magic memory survives,
Part of the universal heart:
In joy a sympathetic strain,
In sorrow, soother of our pain.

The Potentates on whom men gaze,
When once their Rule hath reached its goal,
Die into darkness with their days;
But Monarchs of the mind and soul
With light unfailing and unspent
Illuminate Fame's firmament.


Scheme ABABCC DEDEFF GHGHII JKJKXX FLFLMM XNGNOO XPXPQQ RSRSXG
Poetic Form
Metre 11100101 01011111 11111101 11110101 11010111 11011111 01011111 01110 11011111 01111101 11011111 1101001 111111 01010001 11111101 011100101 10110001 11110111 01111101 0010011 1111101 11110111 11010101 1010100 10010101 10111111 111101 1011101 11010101 1010011 11111101 01010101 0111101 11010101 11110101 01011101 1100101 11110110 11010001 1100101 0100101 01011101 0101111 11111111 10110111 1110101 11010001 010011
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,604
Words 287
Sentences 18
Stanzas 8
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6
Lines Amount 48
Letters per line (avg) 27
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 161
Words per stanza (avg) 35
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:26 min read
56

Alfred Austin

Alfred Austin DL was an English poet who was appointed Poet Laureate in 1896 upon the death of Alfred, Lord Tennyson. more…

All Alfred Austin poems | Alfred Austin Books

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