The Prospect a Flooded Vale
The three following Sonnets are written in the character ofWerter; the sentiments and images chiefly, but not intirelytaken from one of his letters.
Up this bleak Hill, in wintry Night's dread hour,With mind congenial to the scene, I come!To see my Valley in the lunar gloom,To see it whelm'd.--Amid the cloudy lourGleams the cold Moon;--and shows the ruthless powerOf yon swoln Floods, that white with turbid foamRoll o'er the fields;--and, billowy as they roam,Against the bushes beat!--A Vale no more,A troubled Sea, toss'd by the furious Wind!--Alas! the wild and angry Waves effacePathway, and hedge, and bank, and stile!--I findBut one wide waste of waters!--In controulThus dire, to tides of Misery and DisgraceLove opes the flood-gates of my struggling Soul.
Words in this poem
- wintry a.
- Suitable to winter; resembling winter, or what belongs to winter; brumal; hyemal; cold; stormy; wintery. [AS. wintrig.]
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- lour n.
- An Asiatic sardine (Clupea Neohowii), valued for its oil. [Native name.]
- ruthless a.
- Having no ruth; cruel; pitiless.
- swoln
- Contraction of Swollen, p. p.
- billowy a.
- Of or pertaining to billows; swelling or swollen into large waves; full of billows or surges; resembling billows.
- vale n.
- A tract of low ground, or of land between hills; a valley. [OE. val, F. val, L. vallis; perhaps akin to Gr. Avalanche, Vail to lower, Valley.]
- angry a.
- Troublesome; vexatious; rigorous. [See Anger.]
- pathway n.
- A footpath; a beaten track; any path or course. Also used figuratively.
- stile n.
- A pin set on the face of a dial, to cast a shadow; a style. See Style. Moxon. [See Style.]
- dire a.
- Ill-boding; portentous; as, dire omens. [L. dirus; of uncertain origin.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Prospect a Flooded Vale 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, The Prospect a Flooded Vale, in Original Sonnets on Various Subjects (1799), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #27663, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/seward-sonnets/the-prospect-a-flooded-vale.html, id L09819.
Form and metre
The Prospect a Flooded Vale is 17 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.7 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 53% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See 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.
- 2 ABABCDCDEFEFGG hourA · comeB · gloomA · lourB · powerC · foamD · roamC · moreD · windE · effaceF · findE · controulF · disgraceG · soulG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The three following Sonnets are written in the character of | 14 | ··/˘/˘·/˘··/˘· |
| Werter; the sentiments and images chiefly, but not intirely | 16 | ···/˘·/˘/˘······ |
| taken from one of his letters. | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| Up this bleak Hill, in wintry Night's dread hour, | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| With mind congenial to the scene, I come! | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| To see my Valley in the lunar gloom, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| To see it whelm'd.--Amid the cloudy lour | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| Gleams the cold Moon;--and shows the ruthless power | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Of yon swoln Floods, that white with turbid foam | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Roll o'er the fields;--and, billowy as they roam, | 11 | ·····/˘˘··· |
| Against the bushes beat!--A Vale no more, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| A troubled Sea, toss'd by the furious Wind!-- | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Alas! the wild and angry Waves efface | 10 | ˘/···/˘·˘/ |
| Pathway, and hedge, and bank, and stile!--I find | 10 | /········· |
| But one wide waste of waters!--In controul | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Thus dire, to tides of Misery and Disgrace | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Love opes the flood-gates of my struggling Soul. | 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.