Sonnet II
Her courts are by the flux of flaming ways,Between the rivers and the illumined skyWhose fervid depths reverberate from on highFierce lustres mingled in a fiery haze.They mark it inland; blithe and fair of faceHer suitors follow, guessing by the glareBeyond the hilltops in the evening airHow bright the cressets at her portals blaze.On the pure fronts Defeat ere many a dayFalls like the soot and dirt on city-snow;There hopes deferred lie sunk in piteous seams.Her paths are disillusion and decay,With ruins piled and unapparent woe,The graves of Beauty and the wreck of dreams.
Words in this poem
- fervid a.
- Very hot; burning; boiling. [L. fervidus, fr. fervere. See Fervent.]
- blithe a.
- Gay; merry; sprightly; joyous; glad; cheerful; as, a blithe spirit. [AS. bli blithe, kind; akin to Goth. blei kind, Icel. bli mild, gentle, Dan. & Sw. blid gentle, D. blijd blithe, OHG. blidi kind, blithe.]
- glare v. i.
- To shine with a bright, dazzling light. [OE. glaren, gloren; cf. AS. glær amber, LG. glaren to glow or burn like coals, D. gloren to glimmer; prob. akin to E. glass.]
- defeat v. t.
- To undo; to disfigure; to destroy. [From F. défait, OF. desfait, p. p. ofe défaire, OF. desfaire, to undo; L. dis- + facere to do. See Feat, Fact, and cf. Disfashion.]
- disillusion n.
- The act or process of freeing from an illusion, or the state of being freed therefrom. Lowell.
- piled a.
- Having a pile or point; pointed. [From 2d Pile.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet II is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #617; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Alan Seeger, Sonnet II, in Poems (1916), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #617, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/seeger-poems/sonnet-ii.html, id L12935.
Form and metre
Sonnet II is 14 lines in a single stanza. 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 10.1 syllables. 43% 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 ABBA-CCADEFDEF waysA · skyB · highB · hazeA · face · glareC · airC · blazeA · dayD · snowE · seamsF · decayD · woeE · dreamsF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Her courts are by the flux of flaming ways, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Between the rivers and the illumined sky | 11 | ···/˘··˘/˘· |
| Whose fervid depths reverberate from on high | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| Fierce lustres mingled in a fiery haze. | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| They mark it inland; blithe and fair of face | 10 | ···/······ |
| Her suitors follow, guessing by the glare | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Beyond the hilltops in the evening air | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| How bright the cressets at her portals blaze. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| On the pure fronts Defeat ere many a day | 10 | ····˘/·/·· |
| Falls like the soot and dirt on city-snow; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| There hopes deferred lie sunk in piteous seams. | 11 | ··˘/···/˘˘· |
| Her paths are disillusion and decay, | 10 | ····˘/˘·˘/ |
| With ruins piled and unapparent woe, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| The graves of Beauty and the wreck of dreams. | 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.