Analysis of Epitaph On A Beloved Friend
George Gordon Lord Byron 1788 (London) – 1824 (Missolonghi, Aetolia)
Oh, Friend! for ever loved, for ever dear!
What fruitless tears have bathed thy honour'd bier!
What sighs re'echo'd to thy parting breath,
Wilst thou wast struggling in the pangs of death!
Could tears retard the tyrant in his course;
Could sighs avert his dart's relentless force;
Could youth and virtue claim a short delay,
Or beauty charm the spectre from his prey;
Thou still hadst lived to bless my aching sight,
Thy comrade's honour and thy friends delight.
If yet thy gentle spirit hover nigh
The spot where now thy mouldering ashes lie,
Here wilt thou read, recorded on my heart,
A grief too deep to trust the sculptor's art.
No marble marks thy couch of lowly sleep,
But living statues there are seen to weep;
Affliction's semblance bands not o'er thy tomb,
Affliction's self deplores thy youthful doom.
What though thy sire lament his failing line,
A father's sorrows cannot equal mine!
Though none, like thee, his dying hour will cheer,
Yet other offspring soothe his anguish here:
But who with me shall hold thy former place?
Thine image what new friendship can efface?
Ah, none! - a father's tears will cease to flow,
Time will assuage an infant brother's woe;
To all, save one, is consolation known,
While solitary friendship sighs alone.
Scheme | ABCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKKABLLMMNN |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111011101 110111111 1111011101 11110000111 1101010011 1101110101 1101010101 1101010111 1111111101 11101101 1111010101 011111101 1111010111 011111011 1101111101 110111111 110111011 11011101 11110011101 0101010101 11111101011 110111101 1111111101 1101110101 1101011111 1101110101 111110101 110010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,232 |
Words | 217 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 28 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 987 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 215 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 1:08 min read
- 115 Views
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"Epitaph On A Beloved Friend" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/15089/epitaph-on-a-beloved-friend>.
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