Sonnets
To the River TrentSonnet--"Give me a cottage on some Cambrian wild,"Sonnet supposed to have been addressed by a Female Lunatic to aLadySonnet supposed to be written by the unhappy Poet Dermody in aStormThe Winter TravellerSonnet--"Ye whose aspirings court the muse of lays,"Recantatory, in Reply to the foregoing elegant AdmonitionOn hearing the Sounds of an Æolian HarpSonnet--"What art thou, Mighty One! and where thy seat?"To Capel Lofft, Esq.To the MoonWritten at the Grave of a FriendTo MisfortuneSonnet--"As thus oppress'd with many a heavy care,"To AprilSonnet--"Ye unseen spirits, whose wild melodies,"To a TaperTo my MotherSonnet--"Yes, 't will be over soon. This sickly dream"To ConsumptionSonnet--"Thy judgments, Lord, are just;"Sonnet--"When I sit musing on the chequer'd part"Sonnet--"Sweet to the gay of heart is Summer's smile"Sonnet--"Quick o'er the wintry waste dart fiery shafts"
Words in this poem
- sonnet n.
- A short poem, -- usually amatory. [F., fr. It. sonetto, fr. suono a sound, a song, fr. L. sonus a sound. See Sound noise.]
- cambrian a.
- Of or pertaining to Cambria or Wales.
- capel n.
- A horse; a nag. Chaucer. Holland. [Icel. kapall; cf. L. caballus.]
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
- wintry a.
- Suitable to winter; resembling winter, or what belongs to winter; brumal; hyemal; cold; stormy; wintery. [AS. wintrig.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnets 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, Sonnets, in The Poetical Works of Henry Kirke White (1803–1806), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7149, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kirke-white-poems/sonnets.html, id L10045.
Form and metre
Sonnets is 26 lines in a single stanza. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter. 80% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.8 syllables. 9 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 58% 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 --A-A---B---B-B----------- trent · wild · aA · lady · aA · storm · traveller · lays · admonitionB · harp · seat · esq · moonB · friend · misfortuneB · care · april · melodies · taper · mother · dream · consumption · just · part · smile · shafts
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 |
|---|---|---|
| To the River Trent | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Sonnet--"Give me a cottage on some Cambrian wild," | 12 | /˘···/˘··/˘· |
| Sonnet supposed to have been addressed by a Female Lunatic to a | 18 | /˘˘/···˘/··/·/˘··· |
| Lady | 2 | /˘ |
| Sonnet supposed to be written by the unhappy Poet Dermody in a | 19 | /˘˘/··/˘··˘/˘/˘/˘·· |
| Storm | 1 | · |
| The Winter Traveller | 6 | ·/˘/˘˘ |
| Sonnet--"Ye whose aspirings court the muse of lays," | 12 | /˘··˘/˘····· |
| Recantatory, in Reply to the foregoing elegant Admonition | 19 | ······˘/··˘/˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| On hearing the Sounds of an Æolian Harp | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Sonnet--"What art thou, Mighty One! and where thy seat?" | 12 | /˘···/˘····· |
| To Capel Lofft, Esq. | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| To the Moon | 3 | ··· |
| Written at the Grave of a Friend | 8 | /˘······ |
| To Misfortune | 4 | ·˘/˘ |
| Sonnet--"As thus oppress'd with many a heavy care," | 12 | /˘··˘/·/·/˘· |
| To April | 3 | ·/˘ |
| Sonnet--"Ye unseen spirits, whose wild melodies," | 11 | /˘·˘//˘··/˘ |
| To a Taper | 4 | ··/˘ |
| To my Mother | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Sonnet--"Yes, 't will be over soon. This sickly dream" | 12 | /˘·······/˘· |
| To Consumption | 4 | ·˘/˘ |
| Sonnet--"Thy judgments, Lord, are just;" | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Sonnet--"When I sit musing on the chequer'd part" | 12 | /˘···/˘····· |
| Sonnet--"Sweet to the gay of heart is Summer's smile" | 12 | /˘·······/˘· |
| Sonnet--"Quick o'er the wintry waste dart fiery shafts" | 12 | /˘···/˘··/˘· |
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.