Sonnet XII
Like as a dryad, from her native boleComing at dusk, when the dim stars emerge,To a slow river at whose silent vergeTall poplars tremble and deep grasses roll,Come thou no less and, kneeling in a shoalOf the freaked flag and meadow buttercup,Bend till thine image from the pool beam upArched with blue heaven like an aureole.See how adorable in fancy thenLives the fair face it mirrors even so,O thou whose beauty moving among menIs like the wind's way on the woods below,Filling all nature where its pathway liesWith arms that supplicate and trembling sighs.
Words in this poem
- dryad n.
- A wood nymph; a nymph whose life was bound up with that of her tree. [L. dryas, pl. dryades, Gr. Tree.]
- bole n.
- The trunk or stem of a tree, or that which is like it. [OE. bole, fr. Icel. bolr; akin to Sw. bål, Dan. bul, trunk, stem of a tree, G. bohle a thick plank or board; cf. LG. boll round. Cf. Bulge.]
- aureole n.
- A celestial crown or accidental glory added to the bliss of heaven, as a reward to those (as virgins, martyrs, preachers, etc.) who have overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil. [F. auréole, fr. L. aureola, (fem adj.) of gold (sc. corona crown), dim. of aureus. See Aureate, Oriole.]
- adorable a.
- Deserving to be adored; worthy of divine honors. [L. adorabilis, fr. adorare: cf. F. adorable.]
- pathway n.
- A footpath; a beaten track; any path or course. Also used figuratively.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet XII 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 XII, in Poems (1916), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #617, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/seeger-poems/sonnet-xii.html, id L12945.
Form and metre
Sonnet XII is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAACCADEDEFF. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 50% 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 ABBAACCADEDEFF boleA · emergeB · vergeB · rollA · shoalA · buttercupC · upC · aureoleA · thenD · soE · menD · belowE · liesF · sighsF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Like as a dryad, from her native bole | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Coming at dusk, when the dim stars emerge, | 10 | /˘······/˘ |
| To a slow river at whose silent verge | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Tall poplars tremble and deep grasses roll, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Come thou no less and, kneeling in a shoal | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Of the freaked flag and meadow buttercup, | 10 | ·····/·/˘· |
| Bend till thine image from the pool beam up | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Arched with blue heaven like an aureole. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘˘ |
| See how adorable in fancy then | 10 | ··˘/˘˘·/˘· |
| Lives the fair face it mirrors even so, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| O thou whose beauty moving among men | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Is like the wind's way on the woods below, | 10 | ·········· |
| Filling all nature where its pathway lies | 10 | /˘·/˘··/·· |
| With arms that supplicate and trembling sighs. | 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.