Stanza 251 - Explanation

Original Stanza

“Daughter, dear daughter,” old Lucretius cries,
“That life was mine which thou hast here deprived.
If in the child the father’s image lies,
Where shall I live now Lucrece is unlived?
Thou wast not to this end from me derived.
If children predecease progenitors,
We are their offspring, and they none of ours.

🔍 Line-by-Line Analysis

Okay, let's break down Stanza 251 from Shakespeare's "The Rape of Lucrece":

Line-by-Line Breakdown:

• "Daughter, dear daughter,” old Lucretius cries,
  • "Daughter, dear daughter": Direct address. Lucretius, Lucrece's father, speaks to her, using affectionate language. The repetition of "daughter" emphasizes his grief and shock.
  • "old Lucretius cries": Identifies the speaker and action. The word "cries" sets the tone of sadness.
• “That life was mine which thou hast here deprived.
  • "That life was mine": Lucretius claims a sense of ownership over his daughter's life. He feels he, essentially, has been robbed of it.
  • "which thou hast here deprived": Focuses on the action that led to Lucrece's death (suicide). This is an allusion to Lucrece's suicide, which ended her life.
• “If in the child the father’s image lies,
  • "If": Begins a conditional statement that expresses uncertainty.
  • "in the child the father's image lies": A metaphorical idea: children reflect their parents, sharing physical features, personality traits, etc.
• "Where shall I live now Lucrece is unlived?"
  • "Where shall I live": A rhetorical question. It implies that Lucretius's world has been destroyed.
  • "now Lucrece is unlived?": A vivid phrase, using the neologism "unlived" (meaning dead). This highlights the idea that life has been taken from his daughter.
• "Thou wast not to this end from me derived."
  • "Thou wast not to this end": She was not meant to have this fate; her death was not the purpose of her existence.
  • "from me derived": Referring to her being born through him. Her death seems to defy the natural order of life (that the children should not outlive their parents.)
• "If children predecease progenitors,
  • "If": another conditional statement
  • "children predecease progenitors": The situation where the children die before the parents. This line makes an objective statement about the unnatural loss.
• "We are their offspring, and they none of ours."
  • "We are their offspring": Parents become the "children" of their children, and this makes the parents dependent on them.
  • "and they none of ours": The children no longer are, because they are dead. This final line captures the tragedy: parents depend on the children for the continuation of life, but if the children are dead, the parents no longer have anyone to rely on.

Overall Meaning:

This stanza is a lament by Lucretius, Lucrece's father, expressing the immense grief and disorientation caused by her suicide. He feels a sense of loss that goes beyond his daughter's death, as though his own life has been taken away. He questions the natural order of things. He is struggling to understand how to live without his daughter. This stanza shows the destruction of the family caused by rape and suicide and shows that Lucretius struggles to grapple with the fact that he has to live in a world without his daughter.

Literary Devices:

• Direct Address: "Daughter, dear daughter" – This creates a sense of intimacy and highlights Lucretius's emotional connection.
• Rhetorical Questions: "Where shall I live now Lucrece is unlived?" – These questions express deep anguish and a lack of understanding.
• Metaphor: "If in the child the father's image lies" - Comparing children to the reflection of the parent
• Neologism: "unlived" - This is a word that Shakespeare most likely created to emphasize the state of her death.
• Conditional Statements: "If" appears in lines 3 and 6, creating a sense of reflection and questioning the fate of his daughter.
• Antithesis: The contrasting ideas of life and death are emphasized through the entire stanza, but most notably in line 4.
• Imagery: The entire stanza creates a powerful image of grief, loss, and the disruption of the natural order.