Sonnet II
Never until our souls are strong enoughTo plunge into the crater of the Scheme --Triumphant in the flash there to redeemLove's handsel and forevermore to slough,Like cerements at a played-out masque, the roughAnd reptile skins of us whereon we setThe stigma of scared years -- are we to getWhere atoms and the ages are one stuff.
Nor ever shall we know the cursed wasteOf life in the beneficence divineOf starlight and of sunlight and soul-shineThat we have squandered in sin's frail distress,Till we have drunk, and trembled at the taste,The mead of Thought's prophetic endlessness.
Words in this poem
- crater n.
- The basinlike opening or mouth of a volcano, through which the chief eruption comes; similarly, the mouth of a gevser, about which a cone of silica is often built up. [L. crater, cratera, a mixing vessel, the mouth of a volcano, Gr. ir to cook, Crail, in Holy Grail.]
- masque n.
- A mask; a masquerade.
- whereon adv.
- On which; -- used relatively; as, the earth whereon we live.
- 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,]
- cursed a.
- Deserving a curse; execrable; hateful; detestable; abominable.
- beneficence n.
- The practice of doing good; active goodness, kindness, or charity; bounty springing from purity and goodness. [L. beneficentia, fr. beneficus: cf. F. bénéficence. See Benefice.]
- starlight n.
- The light given by the stars.
- endlessness n.
- The quality of being endless; perpetuity. [AS. endeleásnys.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet II is in the public domain. This text is taken from Children of the Night, Project Gutenberg ebook #313; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edwin Arlington Robinson, Sonnet II, in The Children of the Night (1897), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #313, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/robinson-children-of-night/sonnet-ii.html, id L08005.
Form and metre
Sonnet II is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 57% 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 ABBAACCA enoughA · schemeB · redeemB · sloughA · roughA · setC · getC · stuffA
- 2 ABBCAC wasteA · divineB · shineB · distressC · tasteA · endlessnessC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Never until our souls are strong enough | 10 | /··/˘···˘/ |
| To plunge into the crater of the Scheme -- | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Triumphant in the flash there to redeem | 10 | ˘/˘·····˘/ |
| Love's handsel and forevermore to slough, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Like cerements at a played-out masque, the rough | 11 | ··········· |
| And reptile skins of us whereon we set | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| The stigma of scared years -- are we to get | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Where atoms and the ages are one stuff. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Nor ever shall we know the cursed waste | 10 | ·/˘·····˘· |
| Of life in the beneficence divine | 10 | ····˘/˘˘˘/ |
| Of starlight and of sunlight and soul-shine | 10 | ·/···/···· |
| That we have squandered in sin's frail distress, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Till we have drunk, and trembled at the taste, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The mead of Thought's prophetic endlessness. | 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.