Sound Sleep
Some are laughing, some are weeping;She is sleeping, only sleeping.Round her rest wild flowers are creeping;There the wind is heaping, heapingSweetest sweets of Summer's keeping.By the corn-fields ripe for reaping.
There are lilies, and there blushesThe deep rose, and there the thrushesSing till latest sunlight flushesIn the west; a fresh wind brushesThrough the leaves while evening hushes.
There by day the lark is singingAnd the grass and weeds are springing;There by night the bat is winging;There for ever winds are bringingFar-off chimes of church-bells ringing.
Night and morning, noon and even,Their sound fills her dreams with Heaven:The long strife at lent is striven:Till her grave-bands shall be rivenSuch is the good portion givenTo her soul at rest and shriven.
Words in this poem
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sound Sleep is in the public domain. This text is taken from Goblin Market, The Prince's Progress, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #16950; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Christina Rossetti, Sound Sleep, in Goblin Market and Other Poems (1862), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rossetti-goblin-market/sound-sleep.html, id L04268.
Form and metre
Sound Sleep is 22 lines in 4 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 82% of the lines. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 22 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 41% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in trochaic tetrameter.
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 AAAAAA weepingA · sleepingA · creepingA · heapingA · keepingA · reapingA
- 2 AAAAA blushesA · thrushesA · flushesA · brushesA · hushesA
- 3 AAAAA singingA · springingA · wingingA · bringingA · ringingA
- 4 --AAAA even · heaven · strivenA · rivenA · givenA · shrivenA
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Some are laughing, some are weeping; | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| She is sleeping, only sleeping. | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| Round her rest wild flowers are creeping; | 9 | ····/˘·/˘ |
| There the wind is heaping, heaping | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Sweetest sweets of Summer's keeping. | 8 | /˘··/˘/˘ |
| By the corn-fields ripe for reaping. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| There are lilies, and there blushes | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| The deep rose, and there the thrushes | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Sing till latest sunlight flushes | 8 | ··/˘/·/˘ |
| In the west; a fresh wind brushes | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Through the leaves while evening hushes. | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| There by day the lark is singing | 8 | ······/˘ |
| And the grass and weeds are springing; | 8 | ······/˘ |
| There by night the bat is winging; | 8 | ······/˘ |
| There for ever winds are bringing | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Far-off chimes of church-bells ringing. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Night and morning, noon and even, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Their sound fills her dreams with Heaven: | 8 | ······/˘ |
| The long strife at lent is striven: | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Till her grave-bands shall be riven | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Such is the good portion given | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| To her soul at rest and shriven. | 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.