Near this Spot

are deposited the Remains of one

who possessed Beauty without Vanity,

Strength without Insolence,

Courage without Ferosity,

and all the virtues of Man without his Vices.

This praise, which would be unmeaning Flattery

if inscribed over human Ashes,

is but a just tribute to the Memory of

BOATSWAIN, a DOG,

who was born in Newfoundland May 1803

and died at Newstead Nov. 18th, 1808.

In these lines, Hobhouse addresses the dog’s death in the form of a formal

epitaph. These lines read as an inscription on a tomb. He touts the dog’s loyalty,

strength, humility, and courage.

Poetic Techniques in Epitaph to a Dog
Byron makes use of several poetic techniques in ‘Epitaph to a Dog’.These

include but are not limited to alliteration, enjambment, and metaphor. The first,

alliteration, occurs when words are used in succession, or at least appear close

together, and begin with the same sound. For example, “firmest friend,” “first,”

and “foremost” in lines seven and eight. Or, “disgust,” “Degraded,” and “dust” in

lines seventeen and eighteen.

Another important technique commonly used in poetry is enjambment. It occurs

when a line is cut off before its natural stopping point. Enjambment forces a

reader down to the next line, and the next, quickly. One has to move forward in

order to comfortably resolve a phrase or sentence. For example, the transition

between lines five and six.

A metaphor is a comparison between two unlike things that does not use “like” or

“as” is also present in the text. When using this technique a poet is saying that

one thing is another thing, they aren’t just similar. For example, in the eighteenth

line the poet says that humankind is a “Degraded mass of animated dust”. This

phrase is used to show the true extent of the speaker’s disappointment and rage

with the different ways that humans and animals are regard after death.