In Answer to a Request
You ask me for a sonnet. Ah, my Dear,Can clocks tick back to yesterday at noon?Can cracked and fallen leaves recall last JuneAnd leap up on the boughs, now stiff and sere?For your sake, I would go and seek the year,Faded beyond the purple ranks of dune,Blown sands of drifted hours, which the moonStreaks with a ghostly finger, and her sneerPulls at my lengthening shadow. Yes, 'tis that!My shadow stretches forward, and the groundIs dark in front because the light's behind.It is grotesque, with such a funny hat,In watching it and walking I have foundMore than enough to occupy my mind.I cannot turn, the light would make me blind.
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.]
- cracked a.
- Coarsely ground or broken; as, cracked wheat.
- sere n.
- Claw; talon. Chapman. [F. serre.]
- dune n.
- A low hill of drifting sand usually formed on the coats, but often carried far inland by the prevailing winds. [The same word as down: cf. D. duin. See Down a bank of sand.]
- ghostly a.
- Relating to the soul; not carnal or secular; spiritual; as, a ghostly confessor. [OE. gastlich, gostlich, AS. gastlic. See Ghost.]
- funny a.
- Droll; comical; amusing; laughable. Funny bone. See crazy bone, under Crazy. [From Fun.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
In Answer to a Request is in the public domain. This text is taken from Sword Blades and Poppy Seed, Project Gutenberg ebook #1020; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Amy Lowell, In Answer to a Request, in Sword Blades and Poppy Seed (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1020, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lowell-amy-sword-blades/in-answer-to-a-request.html, id L08230.
Form and metre
In Answer to a Request is 15 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 53% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 36% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 ABBAABBACDECDEE dearA · noonB · juneB · sereA · yearA · duneB · moonB · sneerA · thatC · groundD · behindE · hatC · foundD · mindE · blindE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| You ask me for a sonnet. Ah, my Dear, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Can clocks tick back to yesterday at noon? | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Can cracked and fallen leaves recall last June | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| And leap up on the boughs, now stiff and sere? | 10 | ·········· |
| For your sake, I would go and seek the year, | 10 | ·········· |
| Faded beyond the purple ranks of dune, | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Blown sands of drifted hours, which the moon | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Streaks with a ghostly finger, and her sneer | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Pulls at my lengthening shadow. Yes, 'tis that! | 10 | ···/˘/···· |
| My shadow stretches forward, and the ground | 10 | ·/·/˘/˘··· |
| Is dark in front because the light's behind. | 10 | ·········· |
| It is grotesque, with such a funny hat, | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| In watching it and walking I have found | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| More than enough to occupy my mind. | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| I cannot turn, the light would make me blind. | 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.