Subject Continued
If GENIUS has its danger, grief and pain,That Common-Sense escapes, yet who wou'd changeThe Powers, thro' Nature, and thro' Art that range,To keep the bounded, tho' more safe domainOf moderate Intellect, where all we gainIs cold approvance? where the sweet, the strange,Soft, and sublime, in vivid interchange,Nor glad the spirit, nor enrich the brain.Destructive shall we deem yon noon-tide blazeIf transiently the eye, o'er-power'd, resignDistinct perception?--Shall we rather praiseThe Moon's wan light?--with owlish choice inclineThat Common-Sense her lunar lamp shou'd raiseThan that the solar fires of GENIUS shine?
Words in this poem
- approvance n.
- Approval. Thomson.
- 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,]
- deem v. t.
- To decide; to judge; to sentence; to condemn. [OE. demen to judge, condemn, AS. d, fr. d doom; akin to OFries. d, OS. ad, D. doemen, OHG. tuommen, Icel. dæma, Sw. dömma, Dan. dömme, Goth. d. See Doom, n., an]
- owlish a.
- Resembling, or characteristic of, an owl.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Subject Continued 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, Subject Continued, in Original Sonnets on Various Subjects (1799), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #27663, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/seward-sonnets/subject-continued-2.html, id L09784.
Form and metre
Subject Continued 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 92%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 57% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 painA · changeB · rangeA · domainB · gainC · strangeD · interchangeC · brainD · blazeE · resignF · praiseE · inclineF · raiseG · shineG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| If GENIUS has its danger, grief and pain, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| That Common-Sense escapes, yet who wou'd change | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| The Powers, thro' Nature, and thro' Art that range, | 10 | ·/·/˘····· |
| To keep the bounded, tho' more safe domain | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Of moderate Intellect, where all we gain | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Is cold approvance? where the sweet, the strange, | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Soft, and sublime, in vivid interchange, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘·˘/ |
| Nor glad the spirit, nor enrich the brain. | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| Destructive shall we deem yon noon-tide blaze | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| If transiently the eye, o'er-power'd, resign | 10 | ·······/˘/ |
| Distinct perception?--Shall we rather praise | 10 | ˘/˘/˘··/˘· |
| The Moon's wan light?--with owlish choice incline | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| That Common-Sense her lunar lamp shou'd raise | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Than that the solar fires of GENIUS shine? | 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.