Skip main navigation

Lines on the Accession of George III


You can add notes or queries to any part of the poetic text by simply clicking on the line in question and filling in the annotations form with your details. All contributions will be submitted to the editor in the first instance for review.

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.

Expanding the poem lines (+) shows the results of a computationally facilitated analysis of the text. These results should be considered as a basis for deeper interpretative enquiry such as can be found in the notes and queries.

0 Lines on the Accession of George III

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,    
Rhyme:  aabccb   |   Rhyme word(s):  dead   |   Rhyme sound:  /ed/   |   Rhyme (line position):  end
Metre:  -+|-+/   |   Syllables:  4

Add a correction, note or query to this line

2 And in his stead,    
Rhyme:  aabccb   |   Rhyme word(s):  stead   |   Rhyme sound:  /ed/   |   Rhyme (line position):  end
Metre:  -+|-+/   |   Syllables:  4
Figure:  assonance (phonological): in/his /ɪ/

Add a correction, note or query to this line

3     The New One takes his place;    
Rhyme:  aabccb   |   Rhyme word(s):  place   |   Rhyme sound:  /eɪs/   |   Rhyme (line position):  end
Metre:  -+|-+|-+/   |   Syllables:  6
Figure:  assonance (phonological): takes/place /eɪ/
Figure:  consonance (phonological): New/One /n/

Add a correction, note or query to this line

4 Then sing and sigh,    
Rhyme:  aabccb   |   Rhyme word(s):  sigh   |   Rhyme sound:  /aɪ/   |   Rhyme (line position):  end
Metre:  -+|-+/   |   Syllables:  4
Figure:  alliteration (phonological): sing/sigh /s/
Figure:  consonance (phonological): sing/sigh /s/

Add a correction, note or query to this line

5 And laugh and cry,    
Rhyme:  aabccb   |   Rhyme word(s):  cry   |   Rhyme sound:  /aɪ/   |   Rhyme (line position):  end
Metre:  -+|-+/   |   Syllables:  4
Figure:  assonance (phonological): And/and /æ/

Add a correction, note or query to this line

6     With dismal cheerful face.    
Rhyme:  aabccb   |   Rhyme word(s):  face   |   Rhyme sound:  /eɪs/   |   Rhyme (line position):  end
Metre:  -+|-+|-+/   |   Syllables:  6
Figure:  assonance (phonological): With/dismal /ɪ/
Figure:  consonance (phonological): cheerful/face /f/

Add a correction, note or query to this line


Expanding the poem lines (+) shows notes and queries taken from various critical editions of Gray's works, as well as those contributed by users of the Archive. There are 1 textual and 0 explanatory notes/queries.

All notes and queries are shown by default.

0 Lines on the Accession of George III 1 Textual

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.

Add a note or query to this line


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.

About this text

  • Composition: 1760(?)
  • Publication: 1828
  • Base text: 1828
  • Metre: iambic dimeters and trimeter
  • Rhyme scheme: aabccb
  • Stanza: ballad stanza
  • Genre: epigram
  • Notes/Queries: 1
  • Source: TEI/XML
  • Visualization: Poem Viewer