Sonnet Lxxxvii
Round Cleon's brow the Delphic laurels twine,And lo! the laurel decks Amanda's breast!Charm'd shall he mark its glossy branches shineOn that contrasting snow; shall see express'dLove's better omens, in the green hues dress'dOf this selected foliage.--Nymph, 't is thineThe warning story on its leaves to find,Proud Daphne's fate, imprison'd in its rind,And with its umbrage veil'd, great Phœbus' powerScorning, and bent, with feet of wind, to foilHis swift pursuit, till on Thessalian shoreShot into boughs, and rooted to the soil.--Thus warn'd, fair Maid, Apollo's ire to shun,Soon may his Spray's and VOTARY's lot be one.
Words in this poem
- delphic a.
- Of or relating to Delphi, or to the famous oracle of that place. [L. Delphicus, fr. Gr. Delphi, a town of Phocis, in Greece, now Kastri.]
- 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,]
- umbrage n.
- Shade; shadow; obscurity; hence, that which affords a shade, as a screen of trees or foliage. [F. ombrage shade, suspicion, umbrage, L. umbraticus belonging to shade, fr. umbra a shade. Cf. Umber, Umbratic.]
- thessalian a.
- Of or pertaining to Thessaly in Greece. [Cf. L. Thessalius.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet Lxxxvii 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, Sonnet Lxxxvii, in Original Sonnets on Various Subjects (1799), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #27663, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/seward-sonnets/sonnet-lxxxvii.html, id L09818.
Form and metre
Sonnet Lxxxvii 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 91%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 50% 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 twineA · breastB · shineA · express'dB · dress'dC · thineD · findC · rindD · powerE · foilF · shoreE · soilF · shunG · oneG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Round Cleon's brow the Delphic laurels twine, | 9 | ····/˘/˘· |
| And lo! the laurel decks Amanda's breast! | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| Charm'd shall he mark its glossy branches shine | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| On that contrasting snow; shall see express'd | 10 | ··˘/˘···˘/ |
| Love's better omens, in the green hues dress'd | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Of this selected foliage.--Nymph, 't is thine | 11 | ··˘/˘/˘···· |
| The warning story on its leaves to find, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Proud Daphne's fate, imprison'd in its rind, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| And with its umbrage veil'd, great Phœbus' power | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| Scorning, and bent, with feet of wind, to foil | 10 | /˘········ |
| His swift pursuit, till on Thessalian shore | 11 | ··˘/··˘/˘˘· |
| Shot into boughs, and rooted to the soil.-- | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Thus warn'd, fair Maid, Apollo's ire to shun, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Soon may his Spray's and VOTARY's lot be one. | 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.