Sonnet XXIX
Why view'st thou, Edwy, with disdainful mienThe little Naiad of the Downton Wave?High 'mid the rocks, where her clear waters laveThe circling, gloomy basin.--In such scene,Silent, sequester'd, few demand, I ween,That last perfection Phidian chisels gave.Dimly the soft and musing Form is seenIn the hush'd, shelly, shadowy, lone concave.--As sleeps her pure, tho' darkling fountain there,I love to recollect her, stretch'd supineUpon its mossy brink, with pendent hair,As dripping o'er the flood.--Ah! well combineSuch gentle graces, modest, pensive, fair,To aid the magic of her watry shrine.
Words in this poem
- naiad n.
- A water nymph; one of the lower female divinities, fabled to preside over some body of fresh water, as a lake, river, brook, or fountain. [L. naias, -adis, naïs, -idis, a water nymph, Gr naïade. Cf. Naid.]
- lave v. t.
- To lade, dip, or pour out. [OE. laven. See Lavish.]
- ween v. i.
- To think; to imagine; to fancy. [OE. wenen, AS. w, fr. w hope, expectation, opinion; akin to D. waan, OFries. w, OS. & OHG. wan, G. wahn delusion, Icel. van hope, expectation, Goth. w, and D. w]
- dimly adv.
- In a dim or obscure manner; not brightly or clearly; with imperfect sight.
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- darkling a.
- Becoming dark or gloomy; frowing.
- recollect v. t.
- To recover or recall the knowledge of; to bring back to the mind or memory; to remember. [Pref. re- + collect: cf. L. recolligere, recollectum, to collect. Cf. Recollet.]
- supine a.
- Lying on the back, or with the face upward; -- opposed to prone. [L. supinus, akin to sub under, super above. Cf. Sub-, Super-.]
- brink n.
- The edge, margin, or border of a steep place, as of a precipice; a bank or edge, as of a river or pit; a verge; a border; as, the brink of a chasm. Also Fig. [Dan. brink edge, verge; akin to Sw. brink declivity, hill, Icel. brekka; cf. LG. brink a grassy hill, W. bryn hill, bryncyn hillock.]
- dripping n.
- A falling in drops, or the sound so made.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet XXIX 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 XXIX, in Original Sonnets on Various Subjects (1799), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #27663, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/seward-sonnets/sonnet-xxix.html, id L20483.
Form and metre
Sonnet XXIX 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 90%).
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 mienA · waveB · laveA · sceneB · weenC · gaveD · seenC · concaveD · thereE · supineF · hairE · combineF · fairG · shrineG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Why view'st thou, Edwy, with disdainful mien | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| The little Naiad of the Downton Wave? | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| High 'mid the rocks, where her clear waters lave | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The circling, gloomy basin.--In such scene, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Silent, sequester'd, few demand, I ween, | 10 | /˘˘/˘·˘/·· |
| That last perfection Phidian chisels gave. | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Dimly the soft and musing Form is seen | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| In the hush'd, shelly, shadowy, lone concave.-- | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| As sleeps her pure, tho' darkling fountain there, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| I love to recollect her, stretch'd supine | 10 | ····˘/··˘/ |
| Upon its mossy brink, with pendent hair, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| As dripping o'er the flood.--Ah! well combine | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Such gentle graces, modest, pensive, fair, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| To aid the magic of her watry shrine. | 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.