Sonnet XX
Lo! the YEAR's FINAL DAY!--Nature performsIts obsequies with darkness, wind, and rain;But Man is jocund.--Hark! th' exultant strainFrom towers and steeples drowns the wintry storms!No village spire but to the cots and farms,Right merrily, its scant and tuneless pealRings round!--Ah! joy ungrateful!--mirth insane!Wherefore the senseless triumph, ye, who feelThis annual portion of brief Life the whileDepart for ever?--Brought it no dear hoursOf health and night-rest?--none that saw the smileOn lips belov'd?--O! with as gentle powersWill the next pass?--Ye pause!--yet careless hearStrike these last Clocks, that knell th' EXPIRING YEAR!
Words in this poem
- jocund
- Merry; cheerful; gay; airy; lively; sportive. [L. jocundus, jucundus, orig., helpful, fr. juvare to help. See Aid.]
- exultant a.
- Inclined to exult; characterized by, or expressing, exultation; rejoicing triumphantly. [L. exsultans, exsultantis, p. pr. of exsultare. See Exult.]
- wintry a.
- Suitable to winter; resembling winter, or what belongs to winter; brumal; hyemal; cold; stormy; wintery. [AS. wintrig.]
- tuneless a.
- Without tune; inharmonious; unmusical.
- peal v. i.
- To appeal. Spencer.
- ungrateful a.
- Not grateful; not thankful for favors; making no returns, or making ill return for kindness, attention, etc.; ingrateful. South.
- wherefore adv.
- For which reason; so; -- used relatively. [Where + for.]
- depart v. i.
- To part; to divide; to separate. [OE. departen to divide, part, depart, F. départir to divide, distribute, se départir to separate one's self, depart; pref. dé- (L. de) + partir to part, depart,]
- expiring a.
- Breathing out air from the lungs; emitting fluid or volatile matter; exhaling; breathing the last breath; dying; ending; terminating.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet XX 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 XX, in Original Sonnets on Various Subjects (1799), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #27663, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/seward-sonnets/sonnet-xx.html, id L20474.
Form and metre
Sonnet XX 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 performsA · rainB · strainA · stormsB · farmsC · pealD · insaneC · feelD · whileE · hoursF · smileE · powersF · hearG · yearG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Lo! the YEAR's FINAL DAY!--Nature performs | 10 | ···/˘·/˘˘/ |
| Its obsequies with darkness, wind, and rain; | 10 | ·/˘˘·/˘··· |
| But Man is jocund.--Hark! th' exultant strain | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| From towers and steeples drowns the wintry storms! | 10 | ·/·/˘··/˘· |
| No village spire but to the cots and farms, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Right merrily, its scant and tuneless peal | 10 | ·/˘˘···/˘· |
| Rings round!--Ah! joy ungrateful!--mirth insane! | 10 | ····˘/˘·˘/ |
| Wherefore the senseless triumph, ye, who feel | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘··· |
| This annual portion of brief Life the while | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Depart for ever?--Brought it no dear hours | 11 | ˘/·/˘····/˘ |
| Of health and night-rest?--none that saw the smile | 10 | ·········· |
| On lips belov'd?--O! with as gentle powers | 11 | ··˘/···/˘/˘ |
| Will the next pass?--Ye pause!--yet careless hear | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Strike these last Clocks, that knell th' EXPIRING YEAR! | 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.