Sabbath Sonnet
How many blessed groups this hour are bending,Thro’ England’s primrose meadow-paths, their wayTowards spire and tower, midst shadowy elms ascending,Whence the sweet chimes proclaim the hallow’d day!The halls from old heroic ages grayPour their fair children forth; and hamlets low,With whose thick orchard-blooms the soft winds play,Send out their inmates in a happy flow,Like a freed vernal stream. I may not treadWith them those pathways--to the feverish bedOf sickness bound; yet, O my God! I blessThy mercy, that with Sabbath-peace hath fill’dMy chasten’d heart, and all its throbbings still’dTo one deep calm of lowliest thankfulness!
Words in this poem
- hallow v. t.
- To make holy; to set apart for holy or religious use; to consecrate; to treat or keep as sacred; to reverence. [OE. halowen, halwien, halgien, AS. halgian, fr. halig holy. See Holy.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sabbath Sonnet is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Felicia Hemans, Project Gutenberg ebook #66785; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Felicia Hemans, Sabbath Sonnet, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/sabbath-sonnet.html, id L19836.
Form and metre
Sabbath Sonnet is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABBCBCDDEFFE. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%).
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 ABABBCBCDDEFFE bendingA · wayB · ascendingA · dayB · grayB · lowC · playB · flowC · treadD · bedD · blessE · fill'dF · still'dF · thankfulnessE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| How many blessed groups this hour are bending, | 11 | ·/˘···/˘·/˘ |
| Thro’ England’s primrose meadow-paths, their way | 10 | ·/˘/·/···· |
| Towards spire and tower, midst shadowy elms ascending, | 11 | ···/·/˘·˘/˘ |
| Whence the sweet chimes proclaim the hallow’d day! | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| The halls from old heroic ages gray | 10 | ····˘/˘/˘· |
| Pour their fair children forth; and hamlets low, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| With whose thick orchard-blooms the soft winds play, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Send out their inmates in a happy flow, | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| Like a freed vernal stream. I may not tread | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| With them those pathways--to the feverish bed | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| Of sickness bound; yet, O my God! I bless | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Thy mercy, that with Sabbath-peace hath fill’d | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| My chasten’d heart, and all its throbbings still’d | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| To one deep calm of lowliest thankfulness! | 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.