On the Death of the Rev. William Benwell, M.A.
Thou camest with kind looks, when on the brinkAlmost of death I strove, and with mild voiceDidst soothe me, bidding my poor heart rejoice,Though smitten sore: Oh, I did little thinkThat thou, my friend, wouldst the first victim fallTo the stern King of Terrors! Thou didst fly,By pity prompted, at the poor man's cry;And soon thyself were stretched beneath the pall,Livid infection's prey. The deep distressOf her, who best thy inmost bosom knew,To whom thy faith was vowed; thy soul was true,What powers of faltering language shall express?As friendship bids, I feebly breathe my own,And sorrowing say, Pure spirit, thou art gone!
Words in this poem
- brink n.
- The edge, margin, or border of a steep place, as of a precipice; a bank or edge, as of a river or pit; a verge; a border; as, the brink of a chasm. Also Fig. [Dan. brink edge, verge; akin to Sw. brink declivity, hill, Icel. brekka; cf. LG. brink a grassy hill, W. bryn hill, bryncyn hillock.]
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- soothe v. t.
- To assent to as true. Testament of Love. [Originally, to assent to as true; OE. so to verify, AS. ges to prove the truth of, to bear witness. See Sooth, a.]
- inmost a.
- Deepest within; farthest from the surface or external part; innermost. [OE. innemest, AS. innemest, a double superlative form fr. inne within, fr. in in. The modern form is due to confusion with most. See In, and cf. Aftermost, Fore]
- faltering a.
- Hesitating; trembling.
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On the Death of the Rev. William Benwell, M.A. 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, On the Death of the Rev. William Benwell, M.A., in Sonnets, and Other Poems (1789–1837), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18915, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bowles-sonnets/on-the-death-of-the-rev-william-benwell-m-a.html, id L09897.
Form and metre
On the Death of the Rev. William Benwell, M.A. 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%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 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 brinkA · voiceB · rejoiceA · thinkB · fallC · flyD · cryC · pallD · distressE · knewF · trueE · expressF · ownG · goneG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Thou camest with kind looks, when on the brink | 10 | ·········· |
| Almost of death I strove, and with mild voice | 10 | /········· |
| Didst soothe me, bidding my poor heart rejoice, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Though smitten sore: Oh, I did little think | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| That thou, my friend, wouldst the first victim fall | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| To the stern King of Terrors! Thou didst fly, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| By pity prompted, at the poor man's cry; | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| And soon thyself were stretched beneath the pall, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Livid infection's prey. The deep distress | 10 | /˘˘/˘···˘/ |
| Of her, who best thy inmost bosom knew, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| To whom thy faith was vowed; thy soul was true, | 10 | ·········· |
| What powers of faltering language shall express? | 10 | ·/·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| As friendship bids, I feebly breathe my own, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| And sorrowing say, Pure spirit, thou art gone! | 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.