Sonnet
My heart is sick with longing, tho' I feedOn hope; Time goes with such a heavy paceThat neither brings nor takes from thy embrace,As if he slept--forgetting his old speed:For, as in sunshine only we can readThe march of minutes on the dial's face,So in the shadows of this lonely placeThere is no love, and Time is dead indeed.But when, dear lady, I am near thy heart,Thy smile is time, and then so swift it flies,It seems we only meet to tear apart,With aching hands and lingering of eyes.Alas, alas! that we must learn hours' flightBy the same light of love that makes them bright!
Words in this poem
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
- aching a.
- That aches; continuously painful. See Ache.
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-4.html, id L20108.
Form and metre
Sonnet is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAABBACDCDEE. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
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 ABBAABBACDCDEE feedA · paceB · embraceB · speedA · readA · faceB · placeB · indeedA · heartC · fliesD · apartC · eyesD · flightE · brightE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| My heart is sick with longing, tho' I feed | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| On hope; Time goes with such a heavy pace | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| That neither brings nor takes from thy embrace, | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| As if he slept--forgetting his old speed: | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| For, as in sunshine only we can read | 10 | ···/·/˘··· |
| The march of minutes on the dial's face, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| So in the shadows of this lonely place | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| There is no love, and Time is dead indeed. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| But when, dear lady, I am near thy heart, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Thy smile is time, and then so swift it flies, | 10 | ·········· |
| It seems we only meet to tear apart, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| With aching hands and lingering of eyes. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘·· |
| Alas, alas! that we must learn hours' flight | 10 | ˘/˘/······ |
| By the same light of love that makes them bright! | 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.