Sonnet XI
Ceas'd is the rain; but heavy drops yet fallFrom the drench'd roof;--yet murmurs the sunk windRound the dim hills; can yet a passage findWhistling thro' yon cleft rock, and ruin'd wall.The swoln and angry torrents heard, appal,Tho' distant.--A few stars, emerging kind,Shed their green, trembling beams.--With lustre small,The moon, her swiftly-passing clouds behind,Glides o'er that shaded hill.--Now blasts removeThe shadowing clouds, and on the mountain's brow,Full-orb'd, she shines.--Half sunk within its coveHeaves the lone boat, with gulphing sound;--and lo!Bright rolls the settling lake, and brimming roveThe vale's blue rills, and glitter as they flow.
Words in this poem
- swoln
- Contraction of Swollen, p. p.
- angry a.
- Troublesome; vexatious; rigorous. [See Anger.]
- lustre n.
- A period of five years; a lustrum. [L. lustrum: cf. F. lustre.]
- shadowing n.
- Shade, or gradation of light and color; shading. Feltham.
- cove v. t.
- To brood, cover, over, or sit over, as birds their eggs. [CF. F. couver, It. covare. See Covey.]
- heaves n.
- A disease of horses, characterized by difficult breathing, with heaving of the flank, wheezing, flatulency, and a peculiar cough; broken wind.
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- settling n.
- The act of one who, or that which, settles; the act of establishing one's self, of colonizing, subsiding, adjusting, etc.
- brimming a.
- Full to the brim; overflowing.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet XI 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 XI, in Original Sonnets on Various Subjects (1799), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #27663, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/seward-sonnets/sonnet-xi.html, id L20465.
Form and metre
Sonnet XI 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 86%).
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 fallA · windB · findA · wallB · appalC · kindD · smallC · behindD · removeE · browF · coveE · loF · roveG · flowG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ceas'd is the rain; but heavy drops yet fall | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| From the drench'd roof;--yet murmurs the sunk wind | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Round the dim hills; can yet a passage find | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Whistling thro' yon cleft rock, and ruin'd wall. | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| The swoln and angry torrents heard, appal, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Tho' distant.--A few stars, emerging kind, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Shed their green, trembling beams.--With lustre small, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| The moon, her swiftly-passing clouds behind, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Glides o'er that shaded hill.--Now blasts remove | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| The shadowing clouds, and on the mountain's brow, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Full-orb'd, she shines.--Half sunk within its cove | 10 | ·········· |
| Heaves the lone boat, with gulphing sound;--and lo! | 10 | ·········· |
| Bright rolls the settling lake, and brimming rove | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| The vale's blue rills, and glitter as they flow. | 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.