A Sonnet
Ay, thou art welcome, heaven's delicious breath,When woods begin to wear the crimson leaf,And suns grow meek, and the meek suns grow brief,And the year smiles as it draws near its death.Wind of the sunny south! oh still delayIn the gay woods and in the golden air,Like to a good old age released from care,Journeying, in long serenity, away.In such a bright, late quiet, would that IMight wear out life like thee, mid bowers and brooks,And, dearer yet, the sunshine of kind looks,And music of kind voices ever nigh;And when my last sand twinkled in the glass,Pass silently from men, as thou dost pass.
Words in this poem
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Sonnet is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems by William Cullen Bryant, Project Gutenberg ebook #16341; 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 Cullen Bryant, A Sonnet, in Poems (1821–1876), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16341, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bryant-poems/a-sonnet-2.html, id L07297.
Form and metre
A Sonnet is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBACDDCEFFEGG. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 14% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See 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 ABBACDDCEFFEGG breathA · leafB · briefB · deathA · delayC · airD · careD · awayC · iE · brooksF · looksF · nighE · glassG · passG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ay, thou art welcome, heaven's delicious breath, | 11 | ···/˘/˘˘/˘· |
| When woods begin to wear the crimson leaf, | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| And suns grow meek, and the meek suns grow brief, | 10 | ·········· |
| And the year smiles as it draws near its death. | 10 | ·········· |
| Wind of the sunny south! oh still delay | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| In the gay woods and in the golden air, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Like to a good old age released from care, | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Journeying, in long serenity, away. | 10 | /˘··˘/˘˘˘/ |
| In such a bright, late quiet, would that I | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Might wear out life like thee, mid bowers and brooks, | 10 | ·······/·· |
| And, dearer yet, the sunshine of kind looks, | 10 | ·/˘··/···· |
| And music of kind voices ever nigh; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| And when my last sand twinkled in the glass, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Pass silently from men, as thou dost pass. | 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.