On Reading a Description of Pope's Gardens at Twickenham
Ah! might I range each hallow'd bower and gladeMusæus cultur'd, many a raptur'd sighWou'd that dear, local consciousness supplyBeneath his willow, in the grotto's shade,Whose roof his hand with ores and shells inlaid.How sweet to watch, with reverential eye,Thro' the sparr'd arch, the streams he oft survey'd,Thine, blue Thamésis, gently wandering by!This is the POET's triumph, and it towersO'er Life's pale ills, his consciousness of powersThat lift his memory from Oblivion's gloom,Secure a train of these heart-thrilling hoursBy his idea deck'd in rapture's bloom,For Spirits rightly touch'd, thro' ages yet to come.
Words in this poem
- glade n.
- An open passage through a wood; a grassy open or cleared space in a forest. [Prob. of Scand. origin, and akin to glad, a.; cf. also W. golead, goleuad, a lighting, illumination, fr. goleu light, clear, bright, goleu fwlch glade, lit., a ]
- thrilling a.
- Causing a thrill; causing tremulous excitement; deeply moving; as, a thrilling romance.
- rightly adv.
- Straightly; directly; in front. [AS. richtlice.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On Reading a Description of Pope's Gardens at Twickenham 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, On Reading a Description of Pope's Gardens at Twickenham, in Original Sonnets on Various Subjects (1799), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #27663, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/seward-sonnets/on-reading-a-description-of-pope-s-gardens-at-twickenham.html, id L09779.
Form and metre
On Reading a Description of Pope's Gardens at Twickenham is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCDCDEFEFGG, the pattern of the English sonnet. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.4 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 43% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other English sonnets, 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 gladeA · sighB · supplyA · shadeB · inlaidC · eyeD · survey'dC · byD · towersE · powersF · gloomE · hoursF · bloomG · comeG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ah! might I range each hallow'd bower and glade | 10 | ·····/˘/·· |
| Musæus cultur'd, many a raptur'd sigh | 10 | ··/˘/˘···· |
| Wou'd that dear, local consciousness supply | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘˘/ |
| Beneath his willow, in the grotto's shade, | 10 | ···/···/·· |
| Whose roof his hand with ores and shells inlaid. | 10 | ········/· |
| How sweet to watch, with reverential eye, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Thro' the sparr'd arch, the streams he oft survey'd, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Thine, blue Thamésis, gently wandering by! | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| This is the POET's triumph, and it towers | 11 | ···/˘/˘··/˘ |
| O'er Life's pale ills, his consciousness of powers | 11 | ·····/˘˘·/˘ |
| That lift his memory from Oblivion's gloom, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| Secure a train of these heart-thrilling hours | 11 | ˘/·····/˘/˘ |
| By his idea deck'd in rapture's bloom, | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| For Spirits rightly touch'd, thro' ages yet to come. | 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.