Associations
As o'er these hills I take my silent rounds,Still on that vision which is flown I dwell,On images I loved, alas, too well!Now past, and but remembered like sweet soundsOf yesterday! Yet in my breast I keepSuch recollections, painful though they seem,And hours of joy retrace, till from my dreamI start, and find them not; then I could weepTo think how Fortune blights the fairest flowers;To think how soon life's first endearments fail,And we are still misled by Hope's smooth tale,Who, like a flatterer, when the happiest hoursPass, and when most we call on her to stay,Will fly, as faithless and as fleet as they!
Words in this poem
- flown a.
- Flushed, inflated.
- 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]
- retrace v. t.
- To trace back, as a line. [Pref. re- + trace: cf. F. retracer. Cf. Retract.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Associations 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, Associations, in The Poetical Works, Volume I (1789–1837), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18915, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bowles-sonnets/associations.html, id L09900.
Form and metre
Associations is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCDCDEFEFGG, the pattern of the English sonnet. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 36% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other English sonnets, 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 ABABCDCDEFEFGG roundsA · dwellB · wellA · soundsB · keepC · seemD · dreamC · weepD · flowersE · failF · taleE · hoursF · stayG · theyG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| As o'er these hills I take my silent rounds, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Still on that vision which is flown I dwell, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| On images I loved, alas, too well! | 10 | ·/˘˘··˘/·· |
| Now past, and but remembered like sweet sounds | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Of yesterday! Yet in my breast I keep | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Such recollections, painful though they seem, | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| And hours of joy retrace, till from my dream | 10 | ·/··˘/···· |
| I start, and find them not; then I could weep | 10 | ·········· |
| To think how Fortune blights the fairest flowers; | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| To think how soon life's first endearments fail, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| And we are still misled by Hope's smooth tale, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Who, like a flatterer, when the happiest hours | 11 | ···/˘˘··/˘/ |
| Pass, and when most we call on her to stay, | 10 | ·········· |
| Will fly, as faithless and as fleet as they! | 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.