On the Pleasures of Rural Life: Book V: , Ode the Seventh
Where do ye rush, ye impious Trains,Why gleams afar the late-sheath'd sword?Is it believ'd that Roman veinsTheir crimson tides have sparely pour'd?Is not our scorn of safety, health, and ease,Shewn by devasted climes, and blood-stain'd seas?
Those scowling brows, those lifted spears,Bend they against the threat'ning towersProud Carthage emulously rears?Or Britain's still unconquer'd shores?That her fierce Sons, yet free from hostile sway,May pass in chains along our SACRED WAY?
No!--but that warring Parthia's curseMay quickly blast these far-famed Walls;Accomplish'd when, with direful force,By her own strength the City falls;When Foes no more her might resistless feel,But Roman bosoms bleed by Roman steel.
O! worse than Wolves, or Lions fierce,Who ne'er, like you, assault their kind!By what wild phrenzy would ye pierceEach other's breast in fury blind?--Silent, and pale ye stand, with conscious sighs,Your struck soul louring in your down-cast eyes!
The blood our rising walls that stain'd,Shed by the ruthless Fratricide,High Heaven's avenging power ordain'dShould spread the rage of discord wide,Bid kindred Blood in dread profusion flowThro' darken'd years of expiatory woe.
Words in this poem
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
- sparely adv.
- In a spare manner; sparingly.
- emulously adv.
- In an emulous manner.
- direful a.
- Dire; dreadful; terrible; calamitous; woeful; as, a direful fiend; a direful day. [Dire + -ful.]
- resistless a.
- Having no power to resist; making no opposition.
- louring n.
- Instructive discourse. [See 3d Lore.]
- ruthless a.
- Having no ruth; cruel; pitiless.
- fratricide n.
- The act of one who murders or kills his own brother. [L. fratricidium a brother's murder, fr. fratricida a brother's murderer; frater, fratris, brother + caedere to kill: cf. F. fratricide.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On the Pleasures of Rural Life: Book V: , Ode the Seventh 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 the Pleasures of Rural Life: Book V: , Ode the Seventh, in Original Sonnets on Various Subjects (1799), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #27663, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/seward-sonnets/on-the-pleasures-of-rural-life-book-v-ode-the-seventh.html, id L09848.
Form and metre
On the Pleasures of Rural Life: Book V: , Ode the Seventh is 30 lines in 5 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCC, complete in 3 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.9 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 20% 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 ABABCC trainsA · swordB · veinsA · pour'dB · easeC · seasC
- 2 A-A-BB spearsA · towers · rearsA · shores · swayB · wayB
- 3 -A-ABB curse · wallsA · force · fallsA · feelB · steelB
- 4 ABABCC fierceA · kindB · pierceA · blindB · sighsC · eyesC
- 5 ABABCC stain'dA · fratricideB · ordain'dA · wideB · flowC · woeC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Where do ye rush, ye impious Trains, | 9 | ·····˘/˘· |
| Why gleams afar the late-sheath'd sword? | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Is it believ'd that Roman veins | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Their crimson tides have sparely pour'd? | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Is not our scorn of safety, health, and ease, | 10 | ··/··/˘··· |
| Shewn by devasted climes, and blood-stain'd seas? | 10 | ·········· |
| Those scowling brows, those lifted spears, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Bend they against the threat'ning towers | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Proud Carthage emulously rears? | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘˘· |
| Or Britain's still unconquer'd shores? | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| That her fierce Sons, yet free from hostile sway, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| May pass in chains along our SACRED WAY? | 10 | ····˘///˘· |
| No!--but that warring Parthia's curse | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| May quickly blast these far-famed Walls; | 9 | ·/˘····˘· |
| Accomplish'd when, with direful force, | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| By her own strength the City falls; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| When Foes no more her might resistless feel, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| But Roman bosoms bleed by Roman steel. | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| O! worse than Wolves, or Lions fierce, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Who ne'er, like you, assault their kind! | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| By what wild phrenzy would ye pierce | 8 | ········ |
| Each other's breast in fury blind?-- | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Silent, and pale ye stand, with conscious sighs, | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| Your struck soul louring in your down-cast eyes! | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The blood our rising walls that stain'd, | 9 | ··/˘/˘··· |
| Shed by the ruthless Fratricide, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| High Heaven's avenging power ordain'd | 10 | ·/˘˘/˘/˘˘/ |
| Should spread the rage of discord wide, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Bid kindred Blood in dread profusion flow | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Thro' darken'd years of expiatory woe. | 11 | ·/˘··/˘˘˘˘· |
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.