Sonnet
Urge me no more! nor think, because I seemTame and unsorrowing in the world's rude strife,That anguish and resentment have not lifeWithin the heart that ye so quiet deem:In this forc'd stillness only, I sustainMy thought and feeling, wearied out with pain!Floating as 'twere upon some wild abyss,Whence, silent Patience, bending o'er the brink,Would rescue them with strong and steady hand,And join again, by that connecting link,Which now is broken:--O, respect her care!Respect her in this fearful self-command!No moment teems with greater woe than this,Should she but pause, or falter in despair!
Words in this poem
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- deem v. t.
- To decide; to judge; to sentence; to condemn. [OE. demen to judge, condemn, AS. d, fr. d doom; akin to OFries. d, OS. ad, D. doemen, OHG. tuommen, Icel. dæma, Sw. dömma, Dan. dömme, Goth. d. See Doom, n., an]
- stillness n.
- The quality or state of being still; quietness; silence; calmness; inactivity.
- brink n.
- The edge, margin, or border of a steep place, as of a precipice; a bank or edge, as of a river or pit; a verge; a border; as, the brink of a chasm. Also Fig. [Dan. brink edge, verge; akin to Sw. brink declivity, hill, Icel. brekka; cf. LG. brink a grassy hill, W. bryn hill, bryncyn hillock.]
- falter v. t.
- To thrash in the chaff; also, to cleanse or sift, as barley.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #9998; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Matilda Betham, Sonnet, in Poems (1808), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9998, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/betham-poems/sonnet.html, id L23523.
Form and metre
Sonnet is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBACCDEFEGFDG. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
See 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 ABBACCDEFEGFDG seemA · strifeB · lifeB · deemA · sustainC · painC · abyssD · brinkE · handF · linkE · careG · commandF · thisD · despairG
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.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Urge me no more! nor think, because I seem | 10 | ·········· |
| Tame and unsorrowing in the world's rude strife, | 11 | ··········· |
| That anguish and resentment have not life | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| Within the heart that ye so quiet deem: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| In this forc'd stillness only, I sustain | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| My thought and feeling, wearied out with pain! | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Floating as 'twere upon some wild abyss, | 10 | /˘······˘/ |
| Whence, silent Patience, bending o'er the brink, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Would rescue them with strong and steady hand, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And join again, by that connecting link, | 10 | ··˘/··˘/˘· |
| Which now is broken:--O, respect her care! | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| Respect her in this fearful self-command! | 10 | ˘/···/˘·˘/ |
| No moment teems with greater woe than this, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Should she but pause, or falter in despair! | 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.