Sonnet
When Life's realities the Soul perceivesVain, dull, perchance corrosive, if she glowsWith rising energy, and open throwsThe golden gates of Genius, she achievesHis fairy clime delighted, and receivesIn those gay paths, deck'd with the thornless rose,Blest compensation.--Lo! with alter'd browsLours the false World, and the fine Spirit grieves;No more young Hope tints with her light and bloomThe darkening Scene.--Then to ourselves we say,Come, bright IMAGINATION, come! relumeThy orient lamp; with recompensing rayShine on the Mind, and pierce its gathering gloomWith all the fires of intellectual Day!
Words in this poem
- clime n.
- A climate; a tract or region of the earth. See Climate. [L. clima. See Climate.]
- delighted a.
- Endowed with delight.
- thornless a.
- Destitute of, or free from, thorns.
- relume v. t.
- To rekindle; to light again. [OF. relumer (cf. F. rallumer), L. reluminare; pref. re- re- + luminare to light. Cf. Reillume.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet 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, in Original Sonnets on Various Subjects (1799), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #27663, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/seward-sonnets/sonnet.html, id L18564.
Form and metre
Sonnet 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 83%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 71% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end. Rhymes that have moved apart since the poem was written: gild / yield.
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 perceivesA · glowsB · throwsA · achievesB · receivesC · roseD · browsC · grievesD · bloomE · sayF · relumeE · rayF · gloomG · dayG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When Life's realities the Soul perceives | 10 | ··˘/˘˘··˘/ |
| Vain, dull, perchance corrosive, if she glows | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| With rising energy, and open throws | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘·/˘· |
| The golden gates of Genius, she achieves | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| His fairy clime delighted, and receives | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘·˘/ |
| In those gay paths, deck'd with the thornless rose, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Blest compensation.--Lo! with alter'd brows | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Lours the false World, and the fine Spirit grieves; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| No more young Hope tints with her light and bloom | 10 | ·········· |
| The darkening Scene.--Then to ourselves we say, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| Come, bright IMAGINATION, come! relume | 10 | ··˘·˘/˘·˘/ |
| Thy orient lamp; with recompensing ray | 11 | ·/˘···/˘·˘· |
| Shine on the Mind, and pierce its gathering gloom | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| With all the fires of intellectual Day! | 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.