Apud Knoyle, Villam Amoenissimam
Stranger! a while beneath this aged treeRest thee, the hills beyond, and flowery meads,Surveying; and if Nature's charms may wakeA sweet and silent transport at thine heart,In spring-time, whilst the bee hums heedless nigh,Rejoice! for thee the verdant spot is dressed,Circled with laurels green, and sprinkled o'erWith many a budding rose: the shrubs all ringTo the birds' warblings, and by fits the airWhispers amid the foliage o'er thine head!Rejoice, and oh! if life's sweet spring be thine,So gather its brief rose-buds, and deceiveThe cares and crosses of humanity.
Words in this poem
- circled a.
- Having the form of a circle; round.
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Apud Knoyle, Villam Amoenissimam is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of William Lisle Bowles, Vol. 1 With Memoir, Critical Dissertation, and Explanatory Notes by George Gilfillan, Project Gutenberg ebook #18915; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Lisle Bowles, Apud Knoyle, Villam Amoenissimam, in Sonnets, and Other Poems (1789–1837), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18915, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bowles-sonnets/apud-knoyle-villam-amoenissimam.html, id L09936.
Form and metre
Apud Knoyle, Villam Amoenissimam is 13 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 46% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 A---A-------- treeA · meads · wake · heart · nighA · dressed · o'er · ring · air · head · thine · deceive · humanity
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Stranger! a while beneath this aged tree | 9 | /˘······· |
| Rest thee, the hills beyond, and flowery meads, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Surveying; and if Nature's charms may wake | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘··· |
| A sweet and silent transport at thine heart, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| In spring-time, whilst the bee hums heedless nigh, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Rejoice! for thee the verdant spot is dressed, | 10 | ˘/···/˘··· |
| Circled with laurels green, and sprinkled o'er | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| With many a budding rose: the shrubs all ring | 10 | ·/·/˘····· |
| To the birds' warblings, and by fits the air | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Whispers amid the foliage o'er thine head! | 10 | /˘˘/·/˘··· |
| Rejoice, and oh! if life's sweet spring be thine, | 10 | ˘/········ |
| So gather its brief rose-buds, and deceive | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| The cares and crosses of humanity. | 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.