Sonnet IX
Amid the florid multitude her faceWas like the full moon seen behind the laceOf orchard boughs where clouded blossoms partWhen Spring shines in the world and in the heart.As the full-moon-beams to the ferny floorOf summer woods through flower and foliage pour,So to my being's innermost recessFlooded the light of so much loveliness;She held as in a vase of priceless wareThe wine that over arid ways and bareMy youth was the pathetic thirsting for,And where she moved the veil of Nature grewDiaphanous and that radiance mantled throughWhich, when I see, I tremble and adore.
Words in this poem
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- ferny a.
- Abounding in ferns.
- loveliness n.
- The state or quality of being lovely. [From Lovely.]
- priceless a.
- Too valuable to admit of being appraised; of inestimable worth; invaluable.
- pathetic a.
- Expressing or showing anger; passionate. [L. patheticus, Gr. pathétique. See Pathos.]
- diaphanous a.
- Allowing light to pass through, as porcelain; translucent or transparent; pellucid; clear. [Gr. diaphane. See Phantom, and cf. Diaphane, Diaphanic.]
- adore v. t.
- To worship with profound reverence; to pay divine honors to; to honor as deity or as divine. [OE. aouren, anouren, adoren, OF. aorer, adorer, F. adorer, fr. L. adorare; ad + orare to speak, pray, os, oris, mouth. In OE. confused with honor, the French pr]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet IX 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 IX, in Poems (1916), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #617, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/seeger-poems/sonnet-ix.html, id L12942.
Form and metre
Sonnet IX is 14 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 71% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 64% 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 AABBCCDDEECFFC faceA · laceA · partB · heartB · floorC · pourC · recessD · lovelinessD · wareE · bareE · forC · grewF · throughF · adoreC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Amid the florid multitude her face | 10 | ˘/·/˘/˘··· |
| Was like the full moon seen behind the lace | 10 | ·········· |
| Of orchard boughs where clouded blossoms part | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| When Spring shines in the world and in the heart. | 10 | ·········· |
| As the full-moon-beams to the ferny floor | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Of summer woods through flower and foliage pour, | 10 | ·/˘··/·/˘· |
| So to my being's innermost recess | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Flooded the light of so much loveliness; | 10 | /˘·····/˘˘ |
| She held as in a vase of priceless ware | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The wine that over arid ways and bare | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| My youth was the pathetic thirsting for, | 10 | ····˘/˘/˘· |
| And where she moved the veil of Nature grew | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Diaphanous and that radiance mantled through | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Which, when I see, I tremble and adore. | 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.