Book IV
O thou! exulting in the charms,Nature, with lavish bounty, showers,When youth no more thy spirit warms,And stealing age thy pride alarms,For fleeting graces, and for waning powers;
When all the shining locks, that nowAdown those ivory shoulders bound,With deaden'd colour shade thy brow,And fall as from th' autumnal boughLeaves, that rude winds have scatter'd on the ground;
And on that cheek the tints, that shameMay's orient light and Summer's rose,Dim as yon taper's sullen flame,Shall, in a dusky red, proclaimThat not one hue in wonted lustre glows;
When wrinkles o'er LIGURIA's faceTheir daily strengthening furrows lead;When faithful mirrors cease to placeIn her charm'd sight each blooming grace,And will no more her heart's proud triumph feed;
Then the chang'd Maid, with secret shame,Shall thus the past, and present chide;O! why, amid the loud acclaim,That gave my rising charms to Fame,Swell'd this coy bosom with disdainful pride?
Or why, since now the wish to yieldSteals pensive thro' each melting vein,The ice dissolv'd, that scorn congeal'd,And every tender thought reveal'd,Why, vanish'd BEAUTY, com'st not thou again?
Words in this poem
- exulting a.
- Rejoicing triumphantly or exceedingly; exultant.
- bounty n.
- Goodness, kindness; virtue; worth. [OE. bounte goodness, kindness, F. bonté, fr. L. bonitas, fr. bonus good, for older duonus; cf. Skr. duvas honor, respect.]
- waning n.
- The act or process of waning, or decreasing.
- adown adv.
- From a higher to a lower situation; downward; down, to or on the ground. [OE. adun, adoun, adune. AS. of dune off the hill. See Down.]
- sullen a.
- Lonely; solitary; desolate. Wyclif (Job iii. 14). [OE. solein, solain, lonely, sullen; through Old French fr. (assumed) LL. solanus solitary, fr. L. solus alone. See Sole, a.]
- 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,]
- wonted a.
- Accustomed; customary; usual.
- lustre n.
- A period of five years; a lustrum. [L. lustrum: cf. F. lustre.]
- 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]
- acclaim v. i.
- To shout applause.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book IV 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 IV, in Original Sonnets on Various Subjects (1799), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #27663, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/seward-sonnets/book-iv.html, id L09844.
Form and metre
Book IV is 30 lines in 6 stanzas of 5 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAAB, complete in 5 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.6 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 23% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 AB-AB charmsA · showersB · warms · alarmsA · powersB
- 2 ABAAB nowA · boundB · browA · boughA · groundB
- 3 ABAAB shameA · roseB · flameA · proclaimA · glowsB
- 4 ABAAB faceA · leadB · placeA · graceA · feedB
- 5 ABAAB shameA · chideB · acclaimA · fameA · prideB
- 6 ABAAB yieldA · veinB · congeal'dA · reveal'dA · againB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| O thou! exulting in the charms, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Nature, with lavish bounty, showers, | 9 | /˘·/˘/˘/˘ |
| When youth no more thy spirit warms, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And stealing age thy pride alarms, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| For fleeting graces, and for waning powers; | 11 | ·/˘/˘··/˘/˘ |
| When all the shining locks, that now | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Adown those ivory shoulders bound, | 9 | ˘/·/˘˘/˘· |
| With deaden'd colour shade thy brow, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And fall as from th' autumnal bough | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Leaves, that rude winds have scatter'd on the ground; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And on that cheek the tints, that shame | 8 | ········ |
| May's orient light and Summer's rose, | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| Dim as yon taper's sullen flame, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Shall, in a dusky red, proclaim | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| That not one hue in wonted lustre glows; | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| When wrinkles o'er LIGURIA's face | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Their daily strengthening furrows lead; | 9 | ·/˘/˘˘/˘· |
| When faithful mirrors cease to place | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| In her charm'd sight each blooming grace, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And will no more her heart's proud triumph feed; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Then the chang'd Maid, with secret shame, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Shall thus the past, and present chide; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| O! why, amid the loud acclaim, | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| That gave my rising charms to Fame, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Swell'd this coy bosom with disdainful pride? | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| Or why, since now the wish to yield | 8 | ········ |
| Steals pensive thro' each melting vein, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The ice dissolv'd, that scorn congeal'd, | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| And every tender thought reveal'd, | 9 | ·/˘˘/˘·˘/ |
| Why, vanish'd BEAUTY, com'st not thou again? | 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.