Sonnet XXXIV
Yes, thou shalt smile again!--Time always healsIn youth, the wounds of Sorrow.--O! surveyYon now subsided Deep, thro' Night a preyTo warring Winds, and to their furious pealsSurging tumultuous!--yet, as in dismay,The settling Billows tremble.--Morning stealsGrey on the rocks;--and soon, to pour the dayFrom the streak'd east, the radiant Orb unveilsIn all his pride of light.--Thus shall the glowOf beauty, health, and hope, by soft degreesSpread o'er thy breast; disperse these storms of woe;Wake, with sweet pleasure's sense, the wish to please,Till from those eyes the wonted lustres flow,Bright as the Sun on calm'd and crystal Seas.
Words in this poem
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- settling n.
- The act of one who, or that which, settles; the act of establishing one's self, of colonizing, subsiding, adjusting, etc.
- 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,]
- wonted a.
- Accustomed; customary; usual.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet XXXIV 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 XXXIV, in Original Sonnets on Various Subjects (1799), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #27663, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/seward-sonnets/sonnet-xxxiv.html, id L20488.
Form and metre
Sonnet XXXIV 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 healsA · surveyB · preyA · pealsB · dismayC · stealsD · dayC · unveilsD · glowE · degreesF · woeE · pleaseF · flowG · seasG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Yes, thou shalt smile again!--Time always heals | 10 | ····˘/·/·· |
| In youth, the wounds of Sorrow.--O! survey | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Yon now subsided Deep, thro' Night a prey | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| To warring Winds, and to their furious peals | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Surging tumultuous!--yet, as in dismay, | 10 | /˘·/˘···˘/ |
| The settling Billows tremble.--Morning steals | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| Grey on the rocks;--and soon, to pour the day | 10 | ·········· |
| From the streak'd east, the radiant Orb unveils | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| In all his pride of light.--Thus shall the glow | 10 | ·········· |
| Of beauty, health, and hope, by soft degrees | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Spread o'er thy breast; disperse these storms of woe; | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Wake, with sweet pleasure's sense, the wish to please, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Till from those eyes the wonted lustres flow, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Bright as the Sun on calm'd and crystal Seas. | 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.