In Youth
Milton, our noblest poet, in the graceOf youth, in those fair eyes and clustering hair,That brow untouched by one faint line of care,To mar its openness, we seem to traceThe front of the first lord of human race,'Mid thine own Paradise portrayed so fair,Ere Sin or Sorrow scathed it: such the airThat characters thy youth. Shall time effaceThese lineaments as crowding cares assail!It is the lot of fall'n humanity.What boots it! armed in adamantine mail,The unconquerable mind, and genius high,Right onward hold their way through weal and woe,Or whether life's brief lot be high or low!
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- unconquerable a.
- Not conquerable; indomitable.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
In Youth 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, In Youth, in Sonnets, and Other Poems (1789–1837), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18915, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bowles-sonnets/in-youth.html, id L09915.
Form and metre
In Youth 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 88%). 90% 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. 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 graceA · hairB · careA · traceB · raceC · fairD · airC · effaceD · assailE · humanityF · mailE · highF · woeG · lowG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Milton, our noblest poet, in the grace | 10 | /˘//˘/˘··· |
| Of youth, in those fair eyes and clustering hair, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| That brow untouched by one faint line of care, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| To mar its openness, we seem to trace | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| The front of the first lord of human race, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| 'Mid thine own Paradise portrayed so fair, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| Ere Sin or Sorrow scathed it: such the air | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| That characters thy youth. Shall time efface | 10 | ·/˘˘····˘/ |
| These lineaments as crowding cares assail! | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| It is the lot of fall'n humanity. | 10 | ······˘/˘˘ |
| What boots it! armed in adamantine mail, | 10 | ·········· |
| The unconquerable mind, and genius high, | 11 | ·˘/˘˘˘··/˘· |
| Right onward hold their way through weal and woe, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Or whether life's brief lot be high or low! | 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.