Sonnet 181
Where shall I find some desert-scene so rude,Where loneliness so undisturb’d may reign,That not a step shall ever there intrudeOf roving man, or nature’s savage train--Some tangled thicket, desolate and drear,Or deep wild forest, silent as the tomb,Boasting no verdure bright, no fountain clear,But darkly suited to my spirit’s gloom?That there, midst frowning rocks, alone with griefEntomb’d in life, and hopeless of relief,In lonely freedom I may breathe my woes.For oh! since nought my sorrows can allay,There shall my sadness cloud no festal day,And days of gloom shall soothe me to repose.
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,]
- loneliness n.
- The condition of being lonely; solitude; seclusion.
- drear n.
- Sadness; dismalness.
- sadness n.
- Heaviness; firmness.
- festal a.
- Of or pertaining to a holiday or a feast; joyous; festive. [L. festum holiday, feast. See feast.]
- soothe v. t.
- To assent to as true. Testament of Love. [Originally, to assent to as true; OE. so to verify, AS. ges to prove the truth of, to bear witness. See Sooth, a.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet 181 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, Sonnet 181, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/sonnet-181.html, id L13446.
Form and metre
Sonnet 181 is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCDCDEEFGGF. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 14% 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 ABABCDCDEEFGGF rudeA · reignB · intrudeA · trainB · drearC · tombD · clearC · gloomD · griefE · reliefE · woesF · allayG · dayG · reposeF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Where shall I find some desert-scene so rude, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Where loneliness so undisturb’d may reign, | 10 | ·/˘˘··˘/·· |
| That not a step shall ever there intrude | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Of roving man, or nature’s savage train-- | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Some tangled thicket, desolate and drear, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Or deep wild forest, silent as the tomb, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Boasting no verdure bright, no fountain clear, | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| But darkly suited to my spirit’s gloom? | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| That there, midst frowning rocks, alone with grief | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| Entomb’d in life, and hopeless of relief, | 10 | ˘/···/˘·˘/ |
| In lonely freedom I may breathe my woes. | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| For oh! since nought my sorrows can allay, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| There shall my sadness cloud no festal day, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And days of gloom shall soothe me to repose. | 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.