Introduction
When o'er the Atlantic wild, rocked by the blast,Sad Lusitania's exiled sovereign passed,Reft of her pomp, from her paternal throneCast forth, and wandering to a clime unknown,To seek a refuge on that distant shore,That once her country's legions dyed with gore;--Sudden, methought, high towering o'er the flood,Hesperian world! thy mighty genius stood;Where spread, from cape to cape, from bay to bay,Serenely blue, the vast Pacific lay;And the huge Cordilleras to the skiesWith all their burning summits seemed to rise.Then the stern spirit spoke, and to his voiceThe waves and woods replied:--Mountains, rejoice!Thou solitary sea, whose billows sweepThe margin of my forests, dark and deep,Rejoice! the hour is come: the mortal blow,That smote the golden shrines of Mexico,In Europe is avenged; and thou, proud Spain,Now hostile hosts insult thy own domain;Now Fate, vindictive, rolls, with refluent flood,Back on thy shores the tide of human blood,Think of my murdered millions! of the criesThat once I heard from all my kingdoms rise;Of Famine's feeble plaint, of Slavery's tear;--Think, too, if Valour, Freedom, Fame, be dear,How my Antarctic sons, undaunted, stood,Exacting groan for groan, and blood for blood;And shouted, (may the sounds be hailed by thee!)Tyrants, the virtuous and the brave are free!
Words in this poem
- reft n.
- A chink; a rift. See Rift. Rom. of R.
- clime n.
- A climate; a tract or region of the earth. See Climate. [L. clima. See Climate.]
- towering a.
- Very high; elevated; rising aloft; as, a towering height.
- hesperian a.
- Western; being in the west; occidental. [L. hesperius, fr. hesperus the evening star, Gr. Vesper.]
- serenely adv.
- In a serene manner; clearly.
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- vindictive a.
- Disposed to revenge; prompted or characterized by revenge; revengeful. [For vindicative, confused with L. vindicta revenge, punishment, fr. vindicare to vindicate. Cf. Vindicative.]
- refluent a.
- Flowing back; returning; ebbing. [L. refluens, p. pr. of refluere to flow back; pref. re- re- + fluere to flow. See Flurent.]
- plaint n.
- Audible expression of sorrow; lamentation; complaint; hence, a mournful song; a lament. Chaucer."The Psalmist's mournful plaint." [OE. plainte, pleynte, F. plainte, fr. L. plangere, planctum (plancta, fem. p.p.), to beat, beat the breast, lament. Cf. Complain, Plague, Plangent.]
- undaunted a.
- Not daunted; not subdued or depressed by fear.
- virtuous a.
- Possessing or exhibiting virtue. Specifically: -- (a) Exhibiting manly courage and strength; valorous; valiant; brave. [OE. vertuous, OF. vertuos, vertuous, F. vertueux, fr. L. Virtuous. See Virtue, and cf. Virtuoso.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Introduction 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, Introduction, in The Poetical Works, Volume I (1789–1837), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18915, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bowles-sonnets/introduction.html, id L09998.
Form and metre
Introduction is 30 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 87% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 17% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 AABBCCDEFFGGHHIIJJKKDDGGLLEDMM blastA · passedA · throneB · unknownB · shoreC · goreC · floodD · stoodE · bayF · layF · skiesG · riseG · voiceH · rejoiceH · sweepI · deepI · blowJ · mexicoJ · spainK · domainK · floodD · bloodD · criesG · riseG · tearL · dearL · stoodE · bloodD · theeM · freeM
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When o'er the Atlantic wild, rocked by the blast, | 11 | ···˘/˘····· |
| Sad Lusitania's exiled sovereign passed, | 10 | ··˘/˘/·/˘· |
| Reft of her pomp, from her paternal throne | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Cast forth, and wandering to a clime unknown, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| To seek a refuge on that distant shore, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| That once her country's legions dyed with gore;-- | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Sudden, methought, high towering o'er the flood, | 10 | /˘˘/·/˘··· |
| Hesperian world! thy mighty genius stood; | 11 | ˘/˘˘··/˘/˘· |
| Where spread, from cape to cape, from bay to bay, | 10 | ·········· |
| Serenely blue, the vast Pacific lay; | 10 | ˘/˘···˘/˘· |
| And the huge Cordilleras to the skies | 10 | ·········· |
| With all their burning summits seemed to rise. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Then the stern spirit spoke, and to his voice | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The waves and woods replied:--Mountains, rejoice! | 10 | ····˘//˘˘/ |
| Thou solitary sea, whose billows sweep | 10 | ·/˘·˘··/˘· |
| The margin of my forests, dark and deep, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Rejoice! the hour is come: the mortal blow, | 10 | ˘/·/···/˘· |
| That smote the golden shrines of Mexico, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| In Europe is avenged; and thou, proud Spain, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| Now hostile hosts insult thy own domain; | 10 | ·/˘·˘/··˘/ |
| Now Fate, vindictive, rolls, with refluent flood, | 11 | ··˘/˘··/˘˘· |
| Back on thy shores the tide of human blood, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Think of my murdered millions! of the cries | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| That once I heard from all my kingdoms rise; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Of Famine's feeble plaint, of Slavery's tear;-- | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Think, too, if Valour, Freedom, Fame, be dear, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| How my Antarctic sons, undaunted, stood, | 10 | ··˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| Exacting groan for groan, and blood for blood; | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| And shouted, (may the sounds be hailed by thee!) | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Tyrants, the virtuous and the brave are free! | 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.