Subject Continued
He found her not;--yet much the POET found,To swell Imagination's golden store,On Arno's bank, and on that bloomy shore,Warbling Parthenope; in the wide bound,Where Rome's forlorn Campania stretches roundHer ruin'd towers and temples;--classic loreBreathing sublimer spirit from the powerOf local consciousness.--Thrice happy wound,Given by his sleeping graces, as the Fair“Hung over them enamour'd,” the desireThy fond result inspir'd, that wing'd him there,Where breath'd each Roman and each Tuscan Lyre,Might haply fan the emulative flame,That rose o'er DANTE's song, and rival'd MARO's fame.
Words in this poem
- bloomy a.
- Full of bloom; flowery; flourishing with the vigor of youth; as, a bloomy spray.
- parthenope n.
- One of the Sirens, who threw herself into the sea, in despair at not being able to beguile Ulysses by her songs.
- forlorn a.
- Deserted abandoned; lost. [OE., p.p. of forlesen to lose utterly, AS. forleósan (p.p. forloren); pref. for- + leósan (in comp.) to lose; cf. D. verliezen to lose, G. verlieren, Sw. förlor]
- campania n.
- Open country. Sir W. Temple. [See Campaig.]
- classic a.
- Of or relating to the first class or rank, especially in literature or art. [L. classicus relating to the classes of the Roman people, and especially to the frist class; hence, of the first rank, superior, from classis class: cf. F. clas]
- haply adv.
- By hap, chance, luck, or accident; perhaps; it may be.
- emulative a.
- Inclined to emulation; aspiring to competition; rivaling; as, an emulative person or effort.
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-3.html, id L09811.
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 91%). 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.4 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 36% 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 foundA · storeB · shoreA · boundB · roundC · loreD · powerC · woundD · fairE · desireF · thereE · lyreF · flameG · fameG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| He found her not;--yet much the POET found, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| To swell Imagination's golden store, | 10 | ··˘·˘/˘/˘· |
| On Arno's bank, and on that bloomy shore, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Warbling Parthenope; in the wide bound, | 10 | /˘˘······· |
| Where Rome's forlorn Campania stretches round | 11 | ··˘/˘/˘˘/˘· |
| Her ruin'd towers and temples;--classic lore | 10 | ·/˘/·/˘/˘· |
| Breathing sublimer spirit from the power | 11 | /˘···/˘··/˘ |
| Of local consciousness.--Thrice happy wound, | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘·/˘· |
| Given by his sleeping graces, as the Fair | 10 | /··/˘/˘··· |
| “Hung over them enamour'd,” the desire | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| Thy fond result inspir'd, that wing'd him there, | 10 | ··˘/˘/···· |
| Where breath'd each Roman and each Tuscan Lyre, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Might haply fan the emulative flame, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘˘· |
| That rose o'er DANTE's song, and rival'd MARO's fame. | 12 | ···/˘··/˘/˘· |
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.