Lines on the Accession of George III

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Lines on the Accession of George III

1 The Old One's dead,

2 And in his stead,

3 The New One takes his place;

4 Then sing and sigh,

5 And laugh and cry,

6 With dismal cheerful face.

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Metrical notation: -+|-+/ -+|-+/ -+|-+|-+/ -+|-+/ -+|-+/ -+|-+|-+/
Metrical foot type: iambic (-+)
Metrical foot number: dimeter (2 feet), trimeter (3 feet)
Rhyme scheme: aabccb
Rhyme (stanza position): tail (aabccb)
Syllable pattern: 4.4.6.4.4.6
Stanza: sestet (6 lines)
Genre(s): Song to David-stanza

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

1 The Old One's dead,

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2 And in his stead,

Figure: assonance (phonological): in/his /ɪ/

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3 The New One takes his place;

Figure: assonance (phonological): takes/place /eɪ/

Figure: consonance (phonological): New/One /n/

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4 Then sing and sigh,

Figure: alliteration (phonological): sing/sigh /s/

Figure: consonance (phonological): sing/sigh /s/

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5 And laugh and cry,

Figure: assonance (phonological): And/and /æ/

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6 With dismal cheerful face.

Figure: assonance (phonological): With/dismal /ɪ/

Figure: consonance (phonological): cheerful/face /f/

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Title/Paratext] "The only reference to these [...]" R. Lonsdale, 1969.

"The only reference to these lines occurs in Joseph Cradock's Literary Memoirs (1828) iv 224. They have never been considered seriously to be G[ray].'s[...]."

The Poems of Thomas Gray, William Collins, Oliver Goldsmith. Edited by Roger Lonsdale. Longman Annotated English Poets Series. London and Harlow: Longmans, 1969, 352.

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1 The Old One's dead,

2 And in his stead,

3 The New One takes his place;

4 Then sing and sigh,

5 And laugh and cry,

6 With dismal cheerful face.

Works cited

The Poems of Thomas Gray, William Collins, Oliver Goldsmith. Edited by Roger Lonsdale. Longman Annotated English Poets Series. London and Harlow: Longmans, 1969.

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.

Lines on the Accession of George III