Sonnet 23: To a Lady Who Died at Sea
Thou to whose power my hopes, my joys I gave,O fondly loved! my bosom’s dearest care!Earth, which denied to lend thy form a grave,Yields not one spell to soothe my deep despair!Yes! the wild seas entomb those charms divine,Dark o’er thy head th’ eternal billows roll;But while one ray of life or thought is mine,Still shalt thou live, the inmate of my soul.And if the tones of my uncultured songHave power the sad remembrance to prolong,Of love so ardent, and of faith so pure;Still shall my verse thine epitaph remain,Still shall thy charms be deathless in my strain,While Time, and Love, and Memory shall endure.
Words in this poem
- fondly adv.
- Foolishly. Verstegan (1673).
- 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.]
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- 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,]
- deathless a.
- Not subject to death, destruction, or extinction; immortal; undying; imperishable; as, deathless beings; deathless fame.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet 23: To a Lady Who Died at Sea 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 23: To a Lady Who Died at Sea, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/sonnet-23-to-a-lady-who-died-at-sea.html, id L13437.
Form and metre
Sonnet 23: To a Lady Who Died at Sea is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCDCDEEFGGF. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 7% 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 gaveA · careB · graveA · despairB · divineC · rollD · mineC · soulD · songE · prolongE · pureF · remainG · strainG · endureF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Thou to whose power my hopes, my joys I gave, | 10 | ···/······ |
| O fondly loved! my bosom’s dearest care! | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Earth, which denied to lend thy form a grave, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Yields not one spell to soothe my deep despair! | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Yes! the wild seas entomb those charms divine, | 10 | ····˘/··˘/ |
| Dark o’er thy head th’ eternal billows roll; | 10 | ····˘/˘/˘· |
| But while one ray of life or thought is mine, | 10 | ·········· |
| Still shalt thou live, the inmate of my soul. | 10 | ·····/···· |
| And if the tones of my uncultured song | 10 | ·········· |
| Have power the sad remembrance to prolong, | 10 | ·/··˘/˘·˘/ |
| Of love so ardent, and of faith so pure; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Still shall my verse thine epitaph remain, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Still shall thy charms be deathless in my strain, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| While Time, and Love, and Memory shall endure. | 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.