To a Coffin-Lid
Thou silent Door of our eternal sleep,Sickness, and pain, debility, and woes,All the dire train of ills Existence knows,Thou shuttest out FOR EVER!--Why then weepThis fix'd tranquillity,--so long!--so deep!In a dear FATHER's clay-cold Form?--where roseNo energy, enlivening Health bestows,Thro' many a tedious year, that us'd to creepIn languid deprivation; while the flameOf intellect, resplendent once confess'd,Dark, and more dark, each passing day became.Now that angelic lights the SOUL invest,Calm let me yield to thee a joyless Frame,
Words in this poem
- dire a.
- Ill-boding; portentous; as, dire omens. [L. dirus; of uncertain origin.]
- joyless a.
- Not having joy; not causing joy; unenjoyable.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To a Coffin-Lid 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, To a Coffin-Lid, in Original Sonnets on Various Subjects (1799), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #27663, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/seward-sonnets/to-a-coffin-lid.html, id L09821.
Form and metre
To a Coffin-Lid is 13 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAABBACDCDC. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 31% 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.
- 1 ABBAABBACDCDC sleepA · woesB · knowsB · weepA · deepA · roseB · bestowsB · creepA · flameC · confess'dD · becameC · investD · frameC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Thou silent Door of our eternal sleep, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Sickness, and pain, debility, and woes, | 10 | /˘··˘/˘˘·· |
| All the dire train of ills Existence knows, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Thou shuttest out FOR EVER!--Why then weep | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| This fix'd tranquillity,--so long!--so deep! | 10 | ··˘/˘˘···· |
| In a dear FATHER's clay-cold Form?--where rose | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| No energy, enlivening Health bestows, | 10 | ·/˘˘/˘˘·˘/ |
| Thro' many a tedious year, that us'd to creep | 10 | ·/·/˘····· |
| In languid deprivation; while the flame | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| Of intellect, resplendent once confess'd, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘·˘/ |
| Dark, and more dark, each passing day became. | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Now that angelic lights the SOUL invest, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Calm let me yield to thee a joyless Frame, | 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.