Sonnet
Ay, thou art for the grave; thy glances shineToo brightly to shine long; another SpringShall deck her for men's eyes,--but not for thine--Sealed in a sleep which knows no wakening.The fields for thee have no medicinal leaf,And the vexed ore no mineral of power;And they who love thee wait in anxious griefTill the slow plague shall bring the fatal hour.Glide softly to thy rest then; Death should comeGently, to one of gentle mould like thee,As light winds wandering through groves of bloomDetach the delicate blossom from the tree.Close thy sweet eyes, calmly, and without pain;And we will trust in God to see thee yet again.
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,]
- wakening n.
- The act of one who wakens; esp., the act of ceasing to sleep; an awakening.
- mould n.
- Crumbling, soft, friable earth; esp., earth containing the remains or constituents of organic matter, and suited to the growth of plants; soil. [OE. molde, AS. molde; akin to D. mul, G. mull, mulm, OHG. molt, molta, Icel. mold, Dan. muld, Sw. mull, Goth. mulda, and E. meal flour. See Meal, and cf. Mole a]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
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, Sonnet, in Poems (1821–1876), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16341, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bryant-poems/sonnet.html, id L07268.
Form and metre
Sonnet is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.3 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 36% 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 ABABCDCD-E-EFF shineA · springB · thineA · wakeningB · leafC · powerD · griefC · hourD · come · theeE · bloom · treeE · painF · againF
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 for the grave; thy glances shine | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Too brightly to shine long; another Spring | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Shall deck her for men's eyes,--but not for thine-- | 10 | ·········· |
| Sealed in a sleep which knows no wakening. | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| The fields for thee have no medicinal leaf, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| And the vexed ore no mineral of power; | 11 | ·····/˘˘·/˘ |
| And they who love thee wait in anxious grief | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Till the slow plague shall bring the fatal hour. | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Glide softly to thy rest then; Death should come | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Gently, to one of gentle mould like thee, | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| As light winds wandering through groves of bloom | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| Detach the delicate blossom from the tree. | 10 | ˘/·/˘/˘··· |
| Close thy sweet eyes, calmly, and without pain; | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| And we will trust in God to see thee yet again. | 12 | ··········˘/ |
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.