Inscription IX
Me though in life's sequester'd valeThe Almighty Sire ordain'd to dwell,Remote from glory's toilsome ways,And the great scenes of public praise;Yet let me still with grateful prideRemember how my infant frameHe temper'd with prophetic flame,And early music to my tongue supplied.'Twas then my future fate he weigh'd,And, this be thy concern, he said,At once with Passion's keen alarms,And Beauty's pleasurable charms,And sacred Truth's eternal light,To move the various mind of Man;Till, under one unblemish'd plan,His Reason, Fancy, and his Heart unite.
Words in this poem
- vale n.
- A tract of low ground, or of land between hills; a valley. [OE. val, F. val, L. vallis; perhaps akin to Gr. Avalanche, Vail to lower, Valley.]
- sire n.
- A lord, master, or other person in authority. See Sir. [F. sire, originally, an older person. See Sir.]
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
- pleasurable a.
- Capable of affording pleasure or satisfaction; gratifying; abounding in pleasantness or pleasantry.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Inscription IX 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, Inscription IX, in The Poetical Works of Mark Akenside (1744), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9814, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/akenside-poems/inscription-ix.html, id L26358.
Form and metre
Inscription IX is 16 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 --AABCCB--DDEFFE vale · dwell · waysA · praiseA · prideB · frameC · flameC · suppliedB · weigh'd · said · alarmsD · charmsD · lightE · manF · planF · uniteE
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Me though in life's sequester'd vale | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| The Almighty Sire ordain'd to dwell, | 9 | ·˘/˘/˘/·· |
| Remote from glory's toilsome ways, | 8 | ˘/·/˘/˘· |
| And the great scenes of public praise; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Yet let me still with grateful pride | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Remember how my infant frame | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| He temper'd with prophetic flame, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| And early music to my tongue supplied. | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| 'Twas then my future fate he weigh'd, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And, this be thy concern, he said, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| At once with Passion's keen alarms, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| And Beauty's pleasurable charms, | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘˘· |
| And sacred Truth's eternal light, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| To move the various mind of Man; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Till, under one unblemish'd plan, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| His Reason, Fancy, and his Heart unite. | 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.