To Mæcenas: Book I: , Ode the Ninth
In dazzling whiteness, lo! Soracte towers,As all the mountain were one heap of snow!Rush from the loaded woods the glittering showers;The frost-bound waters can no longer flow.
Let plenteous billets, on the glowing hearth,Dissolve the ice-dart ere it reach thy veins;Bring mellow wines to prompt convivial mirth,Nor heed th' arrested streams, or slippery plains.
High Heaven, resistless in his varied sway,Speaks!--The wild elements contend no more;Nor then, from raging seas, the foamy sprayClimbs the dark rocks, or curls upon the shore.
And peaceful then yon aged ash shall stand;In breathless calm the dusky cypress rise;To-morrow's destiny the Gods command,To-day is thine;--enjoy it, and be wise!
Youth's radiant tide too swiftly rolls away;Now, in its flow, let pleasures round thee bloom;Join the gay dance, awake the melting lay,Ere hoary tresses blossom for the tomb!
Spears, and the Steed, in busy camps impel;And, when the early darkness veils the groves,Amid the leafless boughs let whispers steal,While frolic Beauty seeks the near alcoves.
Soft as thy tip-toe steps the mazes rove,A laugh, half-smother'd, thy pleas'd ear shall meet,And, sportive in the charming wiles of love,Betray the artifice of coy retreat;
And then the ring, or, from her snowy arm,The promis'd bracelet may thy force employ;Her feign'd reluctance, height'ning every charm,Shall add new value to the ravish'd toy.
Words in this poem
- resistless a.
- Having no power to resist; making no opposition.
- 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,]
- breathless a.
- Spent with labor or violent action; out of breath.
- hoary a.
- White or whitish."The hoary willows."
- steed n.
- A horse, especially a spirited horse for state of war; -- used chiefly in poetry or stately prose. [OE. stede, AS. steda a stud-horse, war horse, fr. stod a stud of breeding steeds; akin to G. stute a mare, Icel. stedda, sto, a stud. *163. See Stud of horses.]
- 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]
- snowy a.
- White like snow.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Mæcenas: Book I: , Ode the Ninth 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 Mæcenas: Book I: , Ode the Ninth, in Original Sonnets on Various Subjects (1799), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #27663, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/seward-sonnets/to-m-cenas-book-i-ode-the-ninth.html, id L09828.
Form and metre
To Mæcenas: Book I: , Ode the Ninth is 32 lines in 8 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 5 of its 8 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
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 ABAB towersA · snowB · showersA · flowB
- 2 -A-A hearth · veinsA · mirth · plainsA
- 3 ABAB swayA · moreB · sprayA · shoreB
- 4 ABAB standA · riseB · commandA · wiseB
- 5 ABAB awayA · bloomB · layA · tombB
- 6 -A-A impel · grovesA · steal · alcovesA
- 7 -A-A rove · meetA · love · retreatA
- 8 ABAB armA · employB · charmA · toyB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| In dazzling whiteness, lo! Soracte towers, | 11 | ·/˘˘/˘···/˘ |
| As all the mountain were one heap of snow! | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Rush from the loaded woods the glittering showers; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘/ |
| The frost-bound waters can no longer flow. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Let plenteous billets, on the glowing hearth, | 11 | ·/˘˘/˘··/˘· |
| Dissolve the ice-dart ere it reach thy veins; | 10 | ˘/········ |
| Bring mellow wines to prompt convivial mirth, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Nor heed th' arrested streams, or slippery plains. | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| High Heaven, resistless in his varied sway, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Speaks!--The wild elements contend no more; | 10 | ···/˘˘˘/·· |
| Nor then, from raging seas, the foamy spray | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Climbs the dark rocks, or curls upon the shore. | 10 | ·········· |
| And peaceful then yon aged ash shall stand; | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| In breathless calm the dusky cypress rise; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| To-morrow's destiny the Gods command, | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘··˘/ |
| To-day is thine;--enjoy it, and be wise! | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Youth's radiant tide too swiftly rolls away; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Now, in its flow, let pleasures round thee bloom; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Join the gay dance, awake the melting lay, | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| Ere hoary tresses blossom for the tomb! | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Spears, and the Steed, in busy camps impel; | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| And, when the early darkness veils the groves, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Amid the leafless boughs let whispers steal, | 10 | ˘/·/˘··/˘· |
| While frolic Beauty seeks the near alcoves. | 10 | ·/˘/˘···/· |
| Soft as thy tip-toe steps the mazes rove, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| A laugh, half-smother'd, thy pleas'd ear shall meet, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And, sportive in the charming wiles of love, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Betray the artifice of coy retreat; | 10 | ˘/·/˘˘··˘/ |
| And then the ring, or, from her snowy arm, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The promis'd bracelet may thy force employ; | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| Her feign'd reluctance, height'ning every charm, | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Shall add new value to the ravish'd toy. | 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.