Hope
As one who, long by wasting sickness worn,Weary has watched the lingering night, and heardUnmoved the carol of the matin birdSalute his lonely porch; now first at mornGoes forth, leaving his melancholy bed;He the green slope and level meadow views,Delightful bathed with slow-ascending dews;Or marks the clouds, that o'er the mountain's headIn varying forms fantastic wander white;Or turns his ear to every random song,Heard the green river's winding marge along,The whilst each sense is steeped in still delight.So o'er my breast young Summer's breath I feel,Sweet Hope! thy fragrance pure and healing incense steal!
Words in this poem
- unmoved a.
- Not moved; fixed; firm; unshaken; calm; apathetic.
- carol v. t.
- To praise or celebrate in song.
- matin n.
- A French mastiff. [F. matin.]
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- marge n.
- Border; margin; edge; verge. [F. marge. See Margin.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Hope 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, Hope, in The Poetical Works, Volume I (1789–1837), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18915, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bowles-sonnets/hope.html, id L09891.
Form and metre
Hope 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 90%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 29% 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 wornA · heardB · birdA · mornB · bedC · viewsD · dewsC · headD · whiteE · songF · alongE · delightF · feelG · stealG
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 one who, long by wasting sickness worn, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Weary has watched the lingering night, and heard | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Unmoved the carol of the matin bird | 10 | ˘/·/˘··/˘· |
| Salute his lonely porch; now first at morn | 10 | ˘/·/˘····· |
| Goes forth, leaving his melancholy bed; | 10 | ··/˘·/˘·˘· |
| He the green slope and level meadow views, | 10 | ·····/˘/·· |
| Delightful bathed with slow-ascending dews; | 10 | ˘/˘···˘/˘· |
| Or marks the clouds, that o'er the mountain's head | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| In varying forms fantastic wander white; | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘/˘· |
| Or turns his ear to every random song, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Heard the green river's winding marge along, | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| The whilst each sense is steeped in still delight. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| So o'er my breast young Summer's breath I feel, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Sweet Hope! thy fragrance pure and healing incense steal! | 12 | ···/˘··/˘/·· |
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.