Sonnet
The world is with me, and its many cares,Its woes--its wants--the anxious hopes and fearsThat wait on all terrestrial affairs--The shades of former and of future years--Foreboding fancies, and prophetic tears,Quelling a spirit that was once elate:--Heavens! what a wilderness the earth appears,Where Youth, and Mirth, and Health are out of date!But no--a laugh of innocence and joyResounds, like music of the fairy race,And gladly turning from the world's annoyI gaze upon a little radiant face,And bless, internally, the merry boyWho "makes a son-shine in a shady-place."
Words in this poem
- elate a.
- Lifted up; raised; elevated. [L. elatus elevated, fig., elated, proud (the figure, perh., being borrowed from a prancing horse); e out + latus (used as p. p. of ferre to bear), for tlatus, a]
- gladly adv.
- Preferably; by choice. [From Glad, a.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Thomas Hood, Project Gutenberg ebook #15652; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Thomas Hood, Sonnet, in The Song of the Shirt, and Other Poems (1826–1845), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #15652, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hood-poetical-works/sonnet-3.html, id L20103.
Form and metre
Sonnet is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABACBCDEDEDE. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
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 ABABACBCDEDEDE caresA · fearsB · affairsA · yearsB · tearsA · elateC · appearsB · dateC · joyD · raceE · annoyD · faceE · boyD · placeE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The world is with me, and its many cares, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Its woes--its wants--the anxious hopes and fears | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| That wait on all terrestrial affairs-- | 10 | ····˘/˘˘˘/ |
| The shades of former and of future years-- | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Foreboding fancies, and prophetic tears, | 10 | ˘/˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| Quelling a spirit that was once elate:-- | 10 | /˘·/˘···˘/ |
| Heavens! what a wilderness the earth appears, | 10 | /˘··/˘··˘/ |
| Where Youth, and Mirth, and Health are out of date! | 10 | ·········· |
| But no--a laugh of innocence and joy | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| Resounds, like music of the fairy race, | 10 | ·/·/˘··/˘· |
| And gladly turning from the world's annoy | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| I gaze upon a little radiant face, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| And bless, internally, the merry boy | 10 | ··˘/˘˘·/˘· |
| Who "makes a son-shine in a shady-place." | 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.