Sappho
No more I sing by yonder shaded stream,Where once intranc'd I fondly pass'd the day,Supremely blest, when Phaon was my theme,But wretched now, when Phaon is away!
Of all the youths that grac'd our Lesbian isleHe, only he, my heart propitious found,So soft his language, and so sweet his smile,Heaven was my own when Phaon clasp'd me round!
But soon, too soon, the faithless lover fledTo wander on some distant barbarous shore--Who knows if Phaon is alive or dead,Or wretched Sappho shall behold him more.
Words in this poem
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
- fondly adv.
- Foolishly. Verstegan (1673).
- supremely adv.
- In a supreme manner.
- lesbian a.
- Of or pertaining to the island anciently called Lesbos, now Mitylene, in the Grecian Archipelago.
- isle v. t.
- To cause to become an island, or like an island; to surround or encompass; to island.
- sappho n.
- Any one of several species of brilliant South American humming birds of the genus Sappho, having very bright-colored and deeply forked tails; -- called also firetail. [See Sapphic.]
- 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
Sappho is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Philip Freneau, Poet of the American Revolution. Volume 1 (of 3), Project Gutenberg ebook #38475; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Philip Freneau, Sappho, in Poems (1786–1815), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #38475, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/freneau-poems/sappho.html, id L12707.
Form and metre
Sappho is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.8 syllables. 17% 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 ABAB streamA · dayB · themeA · awayB
- 2 ABAB isleA · foundB · smileA · roundB
- 3 ABAB fledA · shoreB · deadA · moreB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| No more I sing by yonder shaded stream, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Where once intranc'd I fondly pass'd the day, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Supremely blest, when Phaon was my theme, | 10 | ˘/˘˘······ |
| But wretched now, when Phaon is away! | 9 | ·/˘····˘/ |
| Of all the youths that grac'd our Lesbian isle | 10 | ······//˘· |
| He, only he, my heart propitious found, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| So soft his language, and so sweet his smile, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Heaven was my own when Phaon clasp'd me round! | 10 | /˘········ |
| But soon, too soon, the faithless lover fled | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| To wander on some distant barbarous shore-- | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Who knows if Phaon is alive or dead, | 9 | ·····˘/·· |
| Or wretched Sappho shall behold him more. | 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.