August
Silence again. The glorious symphonyHath need of pause and interval of peace.Some subtle signal bids all sweet sounds cease,Save hum of insects' aimless industry.Pathetic summer seeks by blazonryOf color to conceal her swift decrease.Weak subterfuge! Each mocking day doth fleeceA blossom, and lay bare her poverty.Poor middle-aged summer! Vain this show!Whole fields of golden-rod cannot offsetOne meadow with a single violet;And well the singing thrush and lily know,Spite of all artifice which her regretCan deck in splendid guise, their time to go!
Words in this poem
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
- symphony n.
- A consonance or harmony of sounds, agreeable to the ear, whether the sounds are vocal or instrumental, or both. [F. symphonie (cf. It. sinfonia), L. symphonia, Gr. Phonetic.]
- aimless a.
- Without aim or purpose; as, an aimless life.
- pathetic a.
- Expressing or showing anger; passionate. [L. patheticus, Gr. pathétique. See Pathos.]
- subterfuge n.
- That to which one resorts for escape or concealment; an artifice employed to escape censure or the force of an argument, or to justify opinions or conduct; a shift; an evasion. [F., from LL. subterfugium, fr. L. subterfugere to flee secretly, to escape; subter under + fugere to flee. See Fugitive.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
August is in the public domain. This text is taken from A Calendar of Sonnets, Project Gutenberg ebook #9825; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Helen Hunt Jackson, August, in A Calendar of Sonnets (1886), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9825, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/jackson-sonnets/august.html, id L22652.
Form and metre
August is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
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 -AA--AA-BCCBCB symphony · peaceA · ceaseA · industry · blazonry · decreaseA · fleeceA · poverty · showB · offsetC · violetC · knowB · regretC · goB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Silence again. The glorious symphony | 11 | /˘˘/·/˘˘/˘˘ |
| Hath need of pause and interval of peace. | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| Some subtle signal bids all sweet sounds cease, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Save hum of insects' aimless industry. | 10 | ···/·/˘/˘˘ |
| Pathetic summer seeks by blazonry | 10 | ˘/˘/˘··/˘˘ |
| Of color to conceal her swift decrease. | 10 | ·/˘·˘/··˘/ |
| Weak subterfuge! Each mocking day doth fleece | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| A blossom, and lay bare her poverty. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘˘ |
| Poor middle-aged summer! Vain this show! | 9 | ·/˘·/˘··· |
| Whole fields of golden-rod cannot offset | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘/ |
| One meadow with a single violet; | 10 | ·/···/˘/˘˘ |
| And well the singing thrush and lily know, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Spite of all artifice which her regret | 10 | ···/˘˘··˘/ |
| Can deck in splendid guise, their time to go! | 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.