Lines.—When this heart is cold and still



When this heart is cold and still,
    And can throb for thee no more;
When it wakes not to the thrill
         Of the harp's wild chord;
         Nor can e'en afford
    A sigh to the days of yore;

Then come to my silent tomb,
    Which the breeze will murmur over:
Where reigns the deepest gloom—
          Where the bat flits by
          And the ravens cry—
   Thou shalt the spot discover.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

21 sec read
33

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABACCB DEDFFE
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 406
Words 70
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 6, 6

Louisa Stuart Costello

Louisa Stuart Costello was a writer on travel and French history. Costello was born in Ireland or Sussex. She resided in Paris, France, near the Seine River. She had no true home, but wandered place to place staying with friends and acquaintances. With her brother Dudley Costello, also a well known for his travel writing, they promoted the copying of illuminated manuscript. She wrote over 100 texts, articles, poems, songs and knew such people as Sir Walter Scott, Charles Dickens, Lord Byron, Thomas Moore. She was a poet, historian, journalist, painter and novelist. Her father was Colonel James Francis Costello, who died in April 1814 while fighting Napoleon. Costello published Memoirs of Eminent Englishwomen, which included her illustrations, and several other popular works of poetry and travel. Her collection Songs of a Stranger was dedicated to William Lisle Bowles. She did not return to France until after her mother sent for her in 1815/18 and then lived chiefly in Paris, where she was a miniature-painter. In 1815 she published The Maid of the Cyprus Isle, etc. She also wrote books of travel, which were very popular, as were her novels, chiefly founded on French history. Another work, published in 1835, is Specimens of the Early Poetry of France. She died in Boulogne sur Mer, France of mouth cancer. more…

All Louisa Stuart Costello poems | Louisa Stuart Costello Books

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    "Lines.—When this heart is cold and still" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/26089/lines.—when-this-heart-is-cold-and-still>.

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