Written in the Year 1782
The spring shall visit thee again,Itchin! and yonder ancient fane,That casts its shadow on thy breast,As if, by many winters beat,The blooming season it would greet,With many a straggling wild-flower shall be dressed.
But I, amid the youthful trainThat stray at evening by thy side,No longer shall a guest remain,To mark the spring's reviving pride.I go not unrejoicing; but who knows,When I have shared, O world! thy common woes,Returning I may drop some natural tears;As these same fields I look around,And hear from yonder dome the slow bell sound,And think upon the joys that crowned my stripling years!
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,]
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
- fane n.
- A temple; a place consecrated to religion; a church. [L. fanum a place dedicated to some deity, a sanctuary, fr. fari to speak. See Fame.]
- straggling a.
- from Straggle, v.
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- stripling n.
- A youth in the state of adolescence, or just passing from boyhood to manhood; a lad. [Dim. of strip; as if a small strip from the main stock or steam.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Written in the Year 1782 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, Written in the Year 1782, in Sonnets, and Other Poems (1789–1837), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18915, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bowles-sonnets/written-in-the-year-1782.html, id L09932.
Form and metre
Written in the Year 1782 is 16 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.9 syllables. 6% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 AABCCB againA · faneA · breastB · beatC · greetC · dressedB
- 2 ABABCCDEED trainA · sideB · remainA · prideB · knowsC · woesC · tearsD · aroundE · soundE · yearsD
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The spring shall visit thee again, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Itchin! and yonder ancient fane, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| That casts its shadow on thy breast, | 8 | ···/···· |
| As if, by many winters beat, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| The blooming season it would greet, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| With many a straggling wild-flower shall be dressed. | 10 | ·/·/˘·/··· |
| But I, amid the youthful train | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| That stray at evening by thy side, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| No longer shall a guest remain, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| To mark the spring's reviving pride. | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| I go not unrejoicing; but who knows, | 10 | ·········· |
| When I have shared, O world! thy common woes, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Returning I may drop some natural tears; | 10 | ˘/˘····/˘· |
| As these same fields I look around, | 8 | ········ |
| And hear from yonder dome the slow bell sound, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And think upon the joys that crowned my stripling years! | 12 | ·········/˘· |
Notes from the edition 2
Bowles's own notes to his Poetical Works (Project Gutenberg #18915).
- Stanza 1, line 2 St Croix.
- Stanza 2, line 9 The Cathedral.
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.