Summer
Now on hills, rocks, and streams, and vales, and plains,Full looks the shining Day.--Our gardens wearThe gorgeous robes of the consummate Year.With laugh, and shout, and song, stout Maids and SwainsHeap high the fragrant hay, as thro' rough lanesRings the yet empty waggon.--See in airThe pendent cherries, red with tempting stains,Gleam thro' their boughs.--Summer, thy bright careerMust slacken soon in Autumn's milder sway;Then thy now heapt and jocund meads shall standSmooth,--vacant,--silent,--thro' th' exulting LandAs wave thy Rival's golden fields, and gayHer Reapers throng. She smiles, and binds the sheaves;Then bends her parting step o'er fall'n and rustling leaves.
Words in this poem
- gorgeous a.
- Imposing through splendid or various colors; showy; fine; magnificent. [OF. gorgias beautiful, glorious, vain, luxurious; cf. OF. gorgias ruff, neck handkerchief, and F. gorge throat, and se pengorger to assume airs. Cf. Gorge, n.]
- career n.
- A race course: the ground run over. [F. carrière race course, high road, street, fr. L. carrus wagon. See Car.]
- jocund
- Merry; cheerful; gay; airy; lively; sportive. [L. jocundus, jucundus, orig., helpful, fr. juvare to help. See Aid.]
- 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,]
- exulting a.
- Rejoicing triumphantly or exceedingly; exultant.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Summer 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, Summer, in Original Sonnets on Various Subjects (1799), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #27663, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/seward-sonnets/summer.html, id L09788.
Form and metre
Summer 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%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 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 plainsA · wearB · yearA · swainsB · lanesC · airD · stainsC · careerD · swayE · standF · landE · gayF · sheavesG · leavesG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Now on hills, rocks, and streams, and vales, and plains, | 10 | ·········· |
| Full looks the shining Day.--Our gardens wear | 10 | ···/˘·//˘· |
| The gorgeous robes of the consummate Year. | 10 | ·/˘···/˘˘· |
| With laugh, and shout, and song, stout Maids and Swains | 10 | ·········· |
| Heap high the fragrant hay, as thro' rough lanes | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Rings the yet empty waggon.--See in air | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The pendent cherries, red with tempting stains, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Gleam thro' their boughs.--Summer, thy bright career | 10 | ····/˘··˘/ |
| Must slacken soon in Autumn's milder sway; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Then thy now heapt and jocund meads shall stand | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Smooth,--vacant,--silent,--thro' th' exulting Land | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| As wave thy Rival's golden fields, and gay | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Her Reapers throng. She smiles, and binds the sheaves; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Then bends her parting step o'er fall'n and rustling leaves. | 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.