Sonnet XIV
O partial MEMORY! Years, that fled too fast,From thee in more than pristine beauty rise,Forgotten all the transient tears and sighsSomewhat that dimm'd their brightness! Thou hast chas'dEach hovering mist from the soft Suns, that grac'dOur fresh, gay morn of Youth;--the Heart's high prize,Friendship,--and all that charm'd us in the eyesOf yet unutter'd Love.--So pleasures past,That in thy crystal prism thus glow sublime,Beam on the gloom'd and disappointed MindWhen Youth and Health, in the chill'd grasp of Time,Shudder and fade;--and cypress buds we findOrdain'd Life's blighted roses to supply,While but reflected shine the golden lights of Joy.
Words in this poem
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- disappointed a.
- Defeated of expectation or hope; balked; as, a disappointed person or hope.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet XIV 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 XIV, in Original Sonnets on Various Subjects (1799), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #27663, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/seward-sonnets/sonnet-xiv.html, id L20468.
Form and metre
Sonnet XIV 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 88%).
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 fastA · riseB · sighsA · chas'dB · grac'dC · prizeD · eyesC · pastD · sublimeE · mindF · timeE · findF · supplyG · joyG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| O partial MEMORY! Years, that fled too fast, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| From thee in more than pristine beauty rise, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Forgotten all the transient tears and sighs | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘··· |
| Somewhat that dimm'd their brightness! Thou hast chas'd | 10 | //···/˘··· |
| Each hovering mist from the soft Suns, that grac'd | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Our fresh, gay morn of Youth;--the Heart's high prize, | 10 | /········· |
| Friendship,--and all that charm'd us in the eyes | 10 | /˘········ |
| Of yet unutter'd Love.--So pleasures past, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| That in thy crystal prism thus glow sublime, | 11 | ···/˘/˘··˘/ |
| Beam on the gloom'd and disappointed Mind | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| When Youth and Health, in the chill'd grasp of Time, | 10 | ·········· |
| Shudder and fade;--and cypress buds we find | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Ordain'd Life's blighted roses to supply, | 10 | ˘/·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| While but reflected shine the golden lights of Joy. | 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.