To Miss Seaton
A July ghost, aghast at the strange winter,Wonders, at burning noon, all summer-seeming,How, like a sad thought buried in light [woven] words,Winter, an alien presence, is ambushed here.See from the fire-fountained noon there creepLazy yellow ardours towards pale evening,Dragging the sun across the shell of thought;A web threaded with fading fire;Futile and fragile lure, a July ghostStanding with feet of fire on banks of ice,My frozen heart, the summer cannot reach—Hidden as a root from air, or star from day,A frozen pool whereon mirth dances,Where the shining boys would fish.
The next letter is from Cape Town.
Words in this poem
- ghost n.
- The spirit; the soul of man. [OE. gast, gost, soul, spirit, AS. gast breath, spirit, soul; akin to OS. g spirit, soul, D. geest, G. geist, and prob. to E. gaze, ghastly.]
- fading n.
- An Irish dance; also, the burden of a song.
- futile a.
- Talkative; loquacious; tattling. [L. futilis that easily pours out, that easily lets loose, vain, worthless, from the root of fundere to pour out: cf. F. futile. See Fuse, v. t.]
- whereon adv.
- On which; -- used relatively; as, the earth whereon we live.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Miss Seaton is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems by Isaac Rosenberg, Project Gutenberg ebook #66889; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Isaac Rosenberg, To Miss Seaton, in Poems (1922), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66889, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rosenberg-poems/to-miss-seaton.html, id L02481.
Form and metre
To Miss Seaton is 15 lines in 2 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 80% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 14% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter, other poems in blank verse.
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.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A July ghost, aghast at the strange winter, | 11 | ··/·˘/···/˘ |
| Wonders, at burning noon, all summer-seeming, | 11 | /˘·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| How, like a sad thought buried in light [woven] words, | 12 | ·····/˘··/˘· |
| Winter, an alien presence, is ambushed here. | 11 | /˘·/˘/˘·/·· |
| See from the fire-fountained noon there creep | 9 | ···//˘··· |
| Lazy yellow ardours towards pale evening, | 10 | /˘/˘/˘··/˘ |
| Dragging the sun across the shell of thought; | 10 | /˘··˘/···· |
| A web threaded with fading fire; | 8 | ··/˘·/˘/ |
| Futile and fragile lure, a July ghost | 10 | /˘·/˘··˘/· |
| Standing with feet of fire on banks of ice, | 10 | /˘···/···· |
| My frozen heart, the summer cannot reach— | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Hidden as a root from air, or star from day, | 11 | /˘········· |
| A frozen pool whereon mirth dances, | 9 | ·/˘·˘/·/˘ |
| Where the shining boys would fish. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| The next letter is from Cape Town. | 8 | ··/˘···· |
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.