Sonnet V
By rugged ways I reach towards a bournWhich awes me not, and if I strive to slackMy usual pace, or for a change draw back,There am I dragged with cruel unconcern;But still, with death at hand, for life I yearn,And seek fresh means my footsteps to reverse;I know the better, I approve the worse,Either from evil custom, or the sternFatality of woe. Yet, my brief time--The wandering process of my wayward yearsAlike in manhood as in early prime,--My will (with which I war not now) in fact,Sure Death, whose peaceful slumber dries all tears,Make me not care the harm to counteract.
Words in this poem
- bourn n.
- A stream or rivulet; a burn. [OE. burne, borne, AS. burna; akin to OS. brunno spring, G. born, brunnen, OHG. prunno, Goth. brunna, Icel. brunnr, and perh. to Gr. burn, v., because the source]
- unconcern n.
- Want of concern; absence of anxiety; freedom from solicitude; indifference.
- yearn v. t.
- To pain; to grieve; to vex. [Also earn, ern; probably a corruption of OE. ermen to grieve, AS. ierman, yrman, or geierman, geyrman, fr. earm wretched, poor; akin to D. & G. arm, Icel. armr,]
- fatality n.
- The state of being fatal, or proceeding from destiny; invincible necessity, superior to, and independent of, free and rational control. [L. fatalitas: cf. F. fatalité]
- wayward a.
- Taking one's own way; disobedient; froward; perverse; willful. [OE. weiward, for aweiward, i. e., turned away. See Away, and -ward.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet V is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Works of Garcilasso de la Vega, Project Gutenberg ebook #49410, the J. H. Wiffen translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Garcilaso de la Vega, Sonnet V, in The Works of Garcilasso de la Vega (1823), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #49410, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/garcilaso-works/sonnet-v.html, id L18708.
Form and metre
Sonnet V is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 29% 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 -AABBCCBDEDFEF bourn · slackA · backA · unconcernB · yearnB · reverseC · worseC · sternB · timeD · yearsE · primeD · factF · tearsE · counteractF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| By rugged ways I reach towards a bourn | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Which awes me not, and if I strive to slack | 10 | ·········· |
| My usual pace, or for a change draw back, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| There am I dragged with cruel unconcern; | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| But still, with death at hand, for life I yearn, | 10 | ·········· |
| And seek fresh means my footsteps to reverse; | 10 | ·····/··˘/ |
| I know the better, I approve the worse, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| Either from evil custom, or the stern | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘··· |
| Fatality of woe. Yet, my brief time-- | 10 | ˘/˘˘······ |
| The wandering process of my wayward years | 10 | ·/˘/···/˘· |
| Alike in manhood as in early prime,-- | 10 | ˘/·/···/˘· |
| My will (with which I war not now) in fact, | 10 | ·········· |
| Sure Death, whose peaceful slumber dries all tears, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Make me not care the harm to counteract. | 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.