Book III: , Ode the Thirteenth
Nymph of the stream, whose source perpetual poursThe living waters thro' the sparkling sand,Cups of bright wine, enwreath'd with summer flowers,For rich libation, round thy brink shall stand,When on the morrow, at thy Bard's decree,A young and spotless Kid is sacrificed to thee.
He, while his brows the primal antlers swell,Conscious of strength, and gay of heart preparesTo meet the female, and the foe repel.--In vain he wishes, and in vain he dares!His ardent blood thy pebbly bed shall stain,Till each translucent wave flows crimson to the plain.
In vain shall Sirius shake his fiery hairsO'er thy pure flood, with waving poplars veil'd,For thou, when most his sultry influence glares,Refreshing shade, and cooling draughts shalt yieldTo all the flocks, that thro' the valley stray,And to the wearied steers, unyok'd at closing day.
Now dear to Fame, sweet Fountain, shalt thou flow,Since to my lyre those breathing shades I singThat crown the hollow rock's incumbent brow,From which thy soft, loquacious waters spring.To vie with streams Aonian be thy pride,As thro' Blandusia's Vale thy silver currents glide!
Words in this poem
- libation n.
- The act of pouring a liquid or liquor, usually wine, either on the ground or on a victim in sacrifice, in honor of some deity; also, the wine or liquid thus poured out. [L. libatio, fr. libare to take a little from anything, to taste, to pour out as an offering: cf. F. libation.]
- brink n.
- The edge, margin, or border of a steep place, as of a precipice; a bank or edge, as of a river or pit; a verge; a border; as, the brink of a chasm. Also Fig. [Dan. brink edge, verge; akin to Sw. brink declivity, hill, Icel. brekka; cf. LG. brink a grassy hill, W. bryn hill, bryncyn hillock.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- primal a.
- First; primary; original; chief. [LL. primalis, fr. L. primus the first. See Prime, a.]
- pebbly a.
- Full of pebbles; pebbled.
- sirius n.
- The Dog Star. See Dog Star.
- cooling a.
- Adapted to cool and refresh; allaying heat.
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- aonian a.
- Pertaining to Aonia, Boeotia, or to the Muses, who were supposed to dwell there. Aonian fount, the fountain of Aganippe, at the foot of Mount Helicon, not far from Thebes, and sacred to the Muses. [From Aonia, a part of Boeotia, in Greece.]
- vale n.
- A tract of low ground, or of land between hills; a valley. [OE. val, F. val, L. vallis; perhaps akin to Gr. Avalanche, Vail to lower, Valley.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book III: , Ode the Thirteenth is in the public domain. This text is taken from Original sonnets on various subjects; and odes paraphrased from Horace, Project Gutenberg ebook #27663; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Anna Seward, Book III: , Ode the Thirteenth, in Original Sonnets on Various Subjects (1799), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #27663, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/seward-sonnets/book-iii-ode-the-thirteenth.html, id L09839.
Form and metre
Book III: , Ode the Thirteenth is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.5 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 21% 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-ABB pours · sandA · flowers · standA · decreeB · theeB
- 2 ABABCC swellA · preparesB · repelA · daresB · stainC · plainC
- 3 A-A-BB hairsA · veil'd · glaresA · yield · strayB · dayB
- 4 -A-ABB flow · singA · brow · springA · prideB · glideB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Nymph of the stream, whose source perpetual pours | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| The living waters thro' the sparkling sand, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Cups of bright wine, enwreath'd with summer flowers, | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| For rich libation, round thy brink shall stand, | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| When on the morrow, at thy Bard's decree, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| A young and spotless Kid is sacrificed to thee. | 12 | ···/˘··/˘··· |
| He, while his brows the primal antlers swell, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Conscious of strength, and gay of heart prepares | 10 | /˘······˘/ |
| To meet the female, and the foe repel.-- | 10 | ···/····˘/ |
| In vain he wishes, and in vain he dares! | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| His ardent blood thy pebbly bed shall stain, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Till each translucent wave flows crimson to the plain. | 12 | ··˘/˘··/˘··· |
| In vain shall Sirius shake his fiery hairs | 11 | ···/˘˘··/˘· |
| O'er thy pure flood, with waving poplars veil'd, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| For thou, when most his sultry influence glares, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Refreshing shade, and cooling draughts shalt yield | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘··· |
| To all the flocks, that thro' the valley stray, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And to the wearied steers, unyok'd at closing day. | 12 | ···/˘····/˘· |
| Now dear to Fame, sweet Fountain, shalt thou flow, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Since to my lyre those breathing shades I sing | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| That crown the hollow rock's incumbent brow, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| From which thy soft, loquacious waters spring. | 10 | ····˘/˘/˘· |
| To vie with streams Aonian be thy pride, | 11 | ····˘/˘˘··· |
| As thro' Blandusia's Vale thy silver currents glide! | 12 | ·······/˘/˘· |
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.