To March
MARCH, tho' the Hours of promise with bright rayMay gild thy noons, yet, on wild pinion borne,Loud Winds more often rudely wake thy morn,And harshly hymn thy early-closing day.Still the chill'd Earth wears, with her tresses shorn,Her bleak, grey garb:--yet not for this we mourn,Nor, as in Winter's more enduring sway,With festal viands, and Associates gay,Arm 'gainst the Skies;--nor shun the piercing gale;But, with blue cheeks, and with disorder'd hair,Meet its rough breath;--and peep for primrose pale,Or lurking violet, under hedges bare;And, thro' long evenings, from our Lares claimThe thrift of stinted grate, and sullen flame.
Words in this poem
- pinion n.
- A moth of the genus Lithophane, as L. antennata, whose larva bores large holes in young peaches and apples.
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- garb n.
- External appearance, as expressive of the feelings or character; looks; fashion or manner, as of speech. [OF. garbe looks, countenance, grace, ornament, fr. OHG. garawi, garwi, ornament, dress. akin to E. gear. See Gear, n.]
- festal a.
- Of or pertaining to a holiday or a feast; joyous; festive. [L. festum holiday, feast. See feast.]
- sullen a.
- Lonely; solitary; desolate. Wyclif (Job iii. 14). [OE. solein, solain, lonely, sullen; through Old French fr. (assumed) LL. solanus solitary, fr. L. solus alone. See Sole, a.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To March 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 March, in Original Sonnets on Various Subjects (1799), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #27663, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/seward-sonnets/to-march.html, id L09816.
Form and metre
To March 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 88%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 14% 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 rayA · borneB · mornA · dayB · shornC · mournD · swayC · gayD · galeE · hairF · paleE · bareF · claimG · flameG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| MARCH, tho' the Hours of promise with bright ray | 10 | ···/·/˘··· |
| May gild thy noons, yet, on wild pinion borne, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Loud Winds more often rudely wake thy morn, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| And harshly hymn thy early-closing day. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Still the chill'd Earth wears, with her tresses shorn, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Her bleak, grey garb:--yet not for this we mourn, | 10 | ·········· |
| Nor, as in Winter's more enduring sway, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| With festal viands, and Associates gay, | 10 | ·/˘··˘/˘·· |
| Arm 'gainst the Skies;--nor shun the piercing gale; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| But, with blue cheeks, and with disorder'd hair, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Meet its rough breath;--and peep for primrose pale, | 10 | ·······/·· |
| Or lurking violet, under hedges bare; | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| And, thro' long evenings, from our Lares claim | 10 | ···/˘·/˘·· |
| The thrift of stinted grate, and sullen flame. | 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.