Sonnet VI
Give me the treble of thy horns and hoofs,The ponderous undertones of 'bus and tram,A garret and a glimpse across the roofsOf clouds blown eastward over Notre Dame,The glad-eyed streets and radiant gatheringsWhere I drank deep the bliss of being young,The strife and sweet potential flux of thingsI sought Youth's dream of happiness among!It walks here aureoled with the city-light,Forever through the myriad-featured massFlaunting not far its fugitive embrace, --Heard sometimes in a song across the night,Caught in a perfume from the crowds that pass,And when love yields to love seen face to face.
Words in this poem
- tram n.
- A four-wheeled truck running on rails, and used in a mine, as for carrying coal or ore. [Prov. E. tram a coal wagon, the shaft of a cart or carriage, a beam or bar; probably of Scand, origin; cf. OSw. tråm, trum, a beam, OD. drom, Prov. & OHG. tram.]
- garret n.
- A turret; a watchtower. [OE. garite, garette, watchtower, place of lookout, OF. garite, also meaning, a place of refuge, F. guérite a place of refuge, donjon, sentinel box, fr. OF. gari]
- notre n.
- One who takes notice.
- dame n.
- A mistress of a family, who is a lady; a womam in authority; especially, a lady. [F. dame, LL. domna, fr. L. domina mistress, lady, fem. of dominus master, ruler, lord; akin to domare to tame, subdue. See Tame, and cf. Dam mother, Dan, Danger]
- drank n.
- Wild oats, or darnel grass. See Drake a plant. [Cf. 3d Drake.]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- myriad n.
- The number of ten thousand; ten thousand persons or things. [Gr. myriade.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet VI 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 VI, in Poems (1916), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #617, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/seeger-poems/sonnet-vi.html, id L12939.
Form and metre
Sonnet VI is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 91% 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. 29% 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 A-A-BCBCDEFDEF hoofsA · tram · roofsA · dame · gatheringsB · youngC · thingsB · amongC · lightD · massE · embraceF · nightD · passE · faceF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Give me the treble of thy horns and hoofs, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The ponderous undertones of 'bus and tram, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| A garret and a glimpse across the roofs | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| Of clouds blown eastward over Notre Dame, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| The glad-eyed streets and radiant gatherings | 11 | ·····/˘˘/˘˘ |
| Where I drank deep the bliss of being young, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The strife and sweet potential flux of things | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| I sought Youth's dream of happiness among! | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| It walks here aureoled with the city-light, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Forever through the myriad-featured mass | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Flaunting not far its fugitive embrace, -- | 10 | /˘···/˘˘˘/ |
| Heard sometimes in a song across the night, | 10 | ·/····˘/·· |
| Caught in a perfume from the crowds that pass, | 10 | ···˘/····· |
| And when love yields to love seen face to face. | 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.