Iii.—2

Mark Akenside (1721–1770) · 1744

iambic pentameter · heroic couplets · 9 lines · from The Poetical Works of Mark Akenside

Yet born to conquer is her power;--O Hoadly, if that favourite hourOn earth arrive, with thankful aweWe own just Heaven's indulgent law,And proudly thy success behold;We attend thy reverend length of daysWith benediction and with praise,And hail thee in our public waysLike some great spirit famed in ages old.

Words in this poem

thankful a.
Obtaining or deserving thanks; thankworthy. [AS. Þancfull.]
reverend a.
Worthy of reverence; entitled to respect mingled with fear and affection; venerable. [F. révérend, L. reverendus, fr. revereri. See Revere.]

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

Iii.—2 is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Mark Akenside, Project Gutenberg ebook #9814; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.

Cite as: Mark Akenside, Iii.—2, in The Poetical Works of Mark Akenside (1744), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9814, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/akenside-poems/iii-2-5.html, id L09531.

Form and metre

Iii.—2 is 9 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 67% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.0 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 44% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.

See other poems in heroic couplets, other poems in iambic pentameter.

Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.

Rhyme words, stanza by stanza

The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.

  1. 1 AABBCDDDC powerA · hourA · aweB · lawB · beholdC · daysD · praiseD · waysD · oldC
Scansion, line by line

Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.

LineSyl.Stress
Yet born to conquer is her power;--9···/˘··/˘
O Hoadly, if that favourite hour10········/˘
On earth arrive, with thankful awe8··˘/·/˘·
We own just Heaven's indulgent law,9···/˘˘/˘·
And proudly thy success behold;8·/˘·˘/˘/
We attend thy reverend length of days10·˘/·/˘˘···
With benediction and with praise,8··˘/˘···
And hail thee in our public ways9····/˘/˘·
Like some great spirit famed in ages old.10···/˘··/˘·

The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.

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