A Sonnet
Chains may subdue the feeble spirit, but thee,Tell, of the iron heart! they could not tame!For thou wert of the mountains; they proclaimThe everlasting creed of liberty.That creed is written on the untrampled snow,Thundered by torrents which no power can hold,Save that of God, when he sends forth his cold,And breathed by winds that through the free heaven blow.Thou, while thy prison walls were dark around,Didst meditate the lesson Nature taught,And to thy brief captivity was broughtA vision of thy Switzerland unbound.The bitter cup they mingled, strengthened theeFor the great work to set thy country free.
Words in this poem
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
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-4.html, id L07309.
Form and metre
A Sonnet is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 21% 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 ABB-CDDCEFFEAA theeA · tameB · proclaimB · liberty · snowC · holdD · coldD · blowC · aroundE · taughtF · broughtF · unboundE · theeA · freeA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Chains may subdue the feeble spirit, but thee, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘/·· |
| Tell, of the iron heart! they could not tame! | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| For thou wert of the mountains; they proclaim | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| The everlasting creed of liberty. | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘˘ |
| That creed is written on the untrampled snow, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Thundered by torrents which no power can hold, | 10 | /˘·/˘··/·· |
| Save that of God, when he sends forth his cold, | 10 | ·········· |
| And breathed by winds that through the free heaven blow. | 10 | ········/· |
| Thou, while thy prison walls were dark around, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Didst meditate the lesson Nature taught, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| And to thy brief captivity was brought | 10 | ····˘/˘˘·· |
| A vision of thy Switzerland unbound. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘˘/ |
| The bitter cup they mingled, strengthened thee | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| For the great work to set thy country 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.