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[Lines Written at Burnham]


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[Lines Written at Burnham]


1 And, as they bow their hoary tops, relate
2 In murmuring sounds the dark decrees of fate;
3 While visions, as poetic eyes avow,
4 Cling to each leaf and swarm on every bough:

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0 [Lines Written at Burnham]

Metrical notation:  -+|-+|-+|-+|-+/ -+|-+|-+|-+|-+/ -+|-+|-+|-+|-+/ -+|-+|-+|-+|-+/
Metrical foot type:  iambic (-+)
Metrical foot number:  pentameter (5 feet)
Rhyme scheme:  aabb
Rhyme (stanza position):  pair (aabb)
Syllable pattern:  10.10.10.10
Stanza:  quatrain (4 lines)

Notation symbols: | (foot boundary), || (caesura), / (metrical line boundary), + (metrically prominent), - (metrically non-prominent)


1 And, as they bow their hoary tops, relate    
Rhyme:  aabb   |   Rhyme word(s):  relate   |   Rhyme sound:  /eɪt/   |   Rhyme (line position):  end
Metre:  -+|-+|-+|-+|-+/   |   Syllables:  10
Figure:  alliteration (phonological): they/their /ð/
Figure:  assonance (phonological): And/as /æ/
Figure:  assonance (phonological): they/relate /eɪ/
Figure:  consonance (phonological): they/their /ð/
Figure:  consonance (phonological): hoary/relate /r/
Figure:  consonance (phonological): tops/relate /t/

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2 In murmuring sounds the dark decrees of fate;    
Rhyme:  aabb   |   Rhyme word(s):  fate   |   Rhyme sound:  /eɪt/   |   Rhyme (line position):  end
Metre:  -+|-+|-+|-+|-+/   |   Syllables:  10
Figure:  alliteration (phonological): dark/decrees /d/
Figure:  consonance (phonological): In/sounds /n/
Figure:  consonance (phonological): dark/decrees /k/
Figure:  consonance (phonological): dark/decrees /d/

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3 While visions, as poetic eyes avow,    
Rhyme:  aabb   |   Rhyme word(s):  avow   |   Rhyme sound:  /aʊ/   |   Rhyme (line position):  end
Metre:  -+|-+|-+|-+|-+/   |   Syllables:  10
Figure:  assonance (phonological): While/eyes /aɪ/
Figure:  consonance (phonological): visions/avow /v/
Figure:  consonance (phonological): as/eyes /z/

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4 Cling to each leaf and swarm on every bough:    
Rhyme:  aabb   |   Rhyme word(s):  bough   |   Rhyme sound:  /aʊ/   |   Rhyme (line position):  end
Metre:  -+|-+|-+|-+|-+/   |   Syllables:  10
Figure:  assonance (phonological): each/leaf /iː/

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0 [Lines Written at Burnham] 1 Textual

Title/Paratext] "[Written by August 1736 [...]. [...]" R. Lonsdale, 1977.

"[Written by August 1736 [...]. First printed by Mason in 1775, where the letter [in which the lines appear] is dated September 1737. The same letter contains the lines '—the tim'rous hare, and sportive squirrel / Gambol around me—', perhaps only a reminiscence of Paradise Lost, iv. 340-5.]"

Thomas Gray and William Collins: Poetical Works. Ed. by Roger Lonsdale. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977, 83.

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1 And, as they bow their hoary tops, relate
2 In murmuring sounds the dark decrees of fate;
3 While visions, as poetic eyes avow,
4 Cling to each leaf and swarm on every bough:

Works cited

  • Thomas Gray and William Collins: Poetical Works. Ed. by Roger Lonsdale. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977.

Spelling has been modernized throughout, except in case of conscious archaisms. Contractions, italics and initial capitalization have been largely eliminated, except where of real import. Obvious errors have been silently corrected, punctuation has been supplied. The editor would like to express his gratitude to the library staff of the Göttingen State and University Library (SUB Göttingen) for their invaluable assistance.

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Editions in the Digital Library

  • 1775: The Poems of Mr. Gray. To which are prefixed Memoirs of his Life and Writings by W[illiam]. Mason. York, 1775.
  • 1814: The Works of Thomas Gray, Vol. I. Ed. Thomas James Mathias. London, 1814.