Sonnet Written at the Grave of a Friend
Fast from the west the fading day-streaks fly,And ebon Night assumes her solemn sway,Yet here alone, unheeding time, I lie,And o'er my friend still pour the plaintive lay.Oh! 'tis not long since, George, with thee I woo'dThe maid of musings by yon moaning wave;And hail'd the moon's mild beam, which, now renew'd,Seems sweetly sleeping on thy silent grave!The busy world pursues its boisterous way,The noise of revelry still echoes round,Yet I am sad while all beside is gay;Yet still I weep o'er thy deserted mound.Oh! that, like thee, I might bid sorrow cease,And 'neath the greensward sleep the sleep of peace.
Words in this poem
- fading n.
- An Irish dance; also, the burden of a song.
- ebon a.
- Consisting of ebony.
- boisterous a.
- Rough or rude; unbending; unyielding; strong; powerful. [OE. boistous; of uncertain origin; cf. W. bwyst wild, savage, wildness, ferocity, bwystus ferocious.]
- greensward n.
- Turf green with grass.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet Written at the Grave of a Friend is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Henry Kirk White : With a Memoir by Sir Harris Nicolas, Project Gutenberg ebook #7149; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry Kirke White, Sonnet Written at the Grave of a Friend, in The Poetical Works of Henry Kirke White (1803–1806), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7149, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kirke-white-poems/sonnet-written-at-the-grave-of-a-friend.html, id L10126.
Form and metre
Sonnet Written at the Grave of a Friend is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCDCDBEBEFF. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 99% 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 ABABCDCDBEBEFF flyA · swayB · lieA · layB · woo'dC · waveD · renew'dC · graveD · wayB · roundE · gayB · moundE · ceaseF · peaceF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Fast from the west the fading day-streaks fly, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And ebon Night assumes her solemn sway, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/·/˘· |
| Yet here alone, unheeding time, I lie, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| And o'er my friend still pour the plaintive lay. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Oh! 'tis not long since, George, with thee I woo'd | 10 | ·········· |
| The maid of musings by yon moaning wave; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And hail'd the moon's mild beam, which, now renew'd, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Seems sweetly sleeping on thy silent grave! | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| The busy world pursues its boisterous way, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/·/˘· |
| The noise of revelry still echoes round, | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘· |
| Yet I am sad while all beside is gay; | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Yet still I weep o'er thy deserted mound. | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Oh! that, like thee, I might bid sorrow cease, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And 'neath the greensward sleep the sleep of peace. | 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.