Sonnet
By ev'ry sweet tradition of true hearts,Graven by Time, in love with his own lore;By all old martyrdoms and antique smarts,Wherein Love died to be alive the more;Yea, by the sad impression on the shore,Left by the drown'd Leander, to endearThat coast for ever, where the billow's roarMoaneth for pity in the Poet's ear;By Hero's faith, and the foreboding tearThat quench'd her brand's last twinkle in its fall;By Sappho's leap, and the low rustling fearThat sigh'd around her flight; I swear by all,The world shall find such pattern in my act,As if Love's great examples still were lack'd.
Words in this poem
- graven p. p.
- Carved. Graven image, an idol; an object of worship carved from wood, stone, etc.
- endear v. t.
- To make dear or beloved.
- twinkle v. i.
- To open and shut the eye rapidly; to blink; to wink. [OE. twinklen, AS. twinclian; akin to OE. twinken to blink, wink, G. zwinken, zwinkern, and perhaps to E. twitch.]
- 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,]
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.html, id L20084.
Form and metre
Sonnet is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABBCBCCDCDEE. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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 ABABBCBCCDCDEE heartsA · loreB · smartsA · moreB · shoreB · endearC · roarB · earC · tearC · fallD · fearC · allD · actE · lack'dE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| By ev'ry sweet tradition of true hearts, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Graven by Time, in love with his own lore; | 10 | /˘········ |
| By all old martyrdoms and antique smarts, | 10 | ···/˘˘·˘/· |
| Wherein Love died to be alive the more; | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Yea, by the sad impression on the shore, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Left by the drown'd Leander, to endear | 10 | ····˘/˘·˘/ |
| That coast for ever, where the billow's roar | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Moaneth for pity in the Poet's ear; | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| By Hero's faith, and the foreboding tear | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| That quench'd her brand's last twinkle in its fall; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| By Sappho's leap, and the low rustling fear | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| That sigh'd around her flight; I swear by all, | 10 | ·········· |
| The world shall find such pattern in my act, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| As if Love's great examples still were lack'd. | 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.