With a Copy of Shakespeare's Sonnets on Leaving College
As one of some fat tillage dispossessed,Weighing the yield of these four faded years,If any ask what fruit seems loveliest,What lasting gold among the garnered ears, --Ah, then I'll say what hours I had of thine,Therein I reaped Time's richest revenue,Read in thy text the sense of David's line,Through thee achieved the love that Shakespeare knew.Take then his book, laden with mine own loveAs flowers made sweeter by deep-drunken rain,That when years sunder and between us moveWide waters, and less kindly bonds constrain,Thou may'st turn here, dear boy, and reading seeSome part of what thy friend once felt for thee.
Be my companion under cool arcadesThat frame some drowsy street and dazzling squareBeyond whose flowers and palm-tree promenadesWhite belfries burn in the blue tropic air.Lie near me in dim forests where the croonOf wood-doves sounds and moss-banked water flows,Or musing late till the midsummer moonBreaks through some ruined abbey's empty rose.Sweetest of those to-day whose pious handsTend the sequestered altar of Romance,Where fewer offerings burn, and fewer kneel,Pour there your passionate beauty on my heart,And, gladdening such solitudes, impartHow sweet the fellowship of those who feel!
Words in this poem
- croon v. i.
- To make a continuous hollow moan, as cattle do when in pain.
- midsummer n.
- The middle of summer. Shak. Midsummer daisy (Bot.), the oxeye daisy. [AS. midsumor.]
- kneel v. i.
- To bend the knee; to fall or rest on the knees; -- sometimes with down. [OE. knelen, cneolien; akin to D. knielen, Dan. knæle. See Knee.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
With a Copy of Shakespeare's Sonnets on Leaving College 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, With a Copy of Shakespeare's Sonnets on Leaving College, in Poems (1916), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #617, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/seeger-poems/with-a-copy-of-shakespeare-s-sonnets-on-leaving-college.html, id L12955.
Form and metre
With a Copy of Shakespeare's Sonnets on Leaving College is 28 lines in 2 stanzas of 14 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 36% 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 ABABCDCDEFEFGG dispossessedA · yearsB · loveliestA · earsB · thineC · revenueD · lineC · knewD · loveE · rainF · moveE · constrainF · seeG · theeG
- 2 ABABCDCD--EFFE arcadesA · squareB · promenadesA · airB · croonC · flowsD · moonC · roseD · hands · romance · kneelE · heartF · impartF · feelE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| As one of some fat tillage dispossessed, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Weighing the yield of these four faded years, | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| If any ask what fruit seems loveliest, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| What lasting gold among the garnered ears, -- | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Ah, then I'll say what hours I had of thine, | 10 | ·····/···· |
| Therein I reaped Time's richest revenue, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Read in thy text the sense of David's line, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Through thee achieved the love that Shakespeare knew. | 10 | ··˘/···/·· |
| Take then his book, laden with mine own love | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| As flowers made sweeter by deep-drunken rain, | 10 | ·/·/˘··/˘· |
| That when years sunder and between us move | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Wide waters, and less kindly bonds constrain, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Thou may'st turn here, dear boy, and reading see | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Some part of what thy friend once felt for thee. | 10 | ·········· |
| Be my companion under cool arcades | 10 | ··˘/˘···˘/ |
| That frame some drowsy street and dazzling square | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Beyond whose flowers and palm-tree promenades | 10 | ···/····˘/ |
| White belfries burn in the blue tropic air. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Lie near me in dim forests where the croon | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Of wood-doves sounds and moss-banked water flows, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Or musing late till the midsummer moon | 10 | ·/˘···//˘· |
| Breaks through some ruined abbey's empty rose. | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| Sweetest of those to-day whose pious hands | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| Tend the sequestered altar of Romance, | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Where fewer offerings burn, and fewer kneel, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Pour there your passionate beauty on my heart, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| And, gladdening such solitudes, impart | 10 | ·/˘˘·/˘·˘/ |
| How sweet the fellowship of those who feel! | 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.