To Mr. Henry Cary, on the Publication of His Sonnets
Prais'd be the Poet, who the Sonnet's claim,Severest of the orders that belongDistinct and separate to the Delphic Song,Shall venerate, nor its appropriate nameLawless assume. Peculiar is its frame,From him deriv'd, who shunn'd the City Throng,And warbled sweet thy rocks and streams among,Lonely Valclusa!--and that Heir of Fame,Our greater MILTON, hath, by many a layForm'd on that arduous model, fully shownThat English Verse may happily displayThose strict energic measures, which aloneDeserve the name of SONNET, and conveyA grandeur, grace and spirit, all their own.
Words in this poem
- delphic a.
- Of or relating to Delphi, or to the famous oracle of that place. [L. Delphicus, fr. Gr. Delphi, a town of Phocis, in Greece, now Kastri.]
- 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,]
- venerate v. t.
- To regard with reverential respect; to honor with mingled respect and awe; to reverence; to revere; as, we venerate parents and elders. [L. veneratus, p. p. of venerari to venerate; akin to Venus Venus, Skr. van to like, to wish, and E. winsome. See Winsome.]
- arduous a.
- Steep and lofty, in a literal sense; hard to climb. [L. arduus steep, high; akin to Ir. ard high, height.]
- happily adv.
- By chance; peradventure; haply. Piers Plowman. [From Happy.]
- energic a.
- In a state of action; acting; operating. [Cf. F. énergique.]
- sonnet n.
- A short poem, -- usually amatory. [F., fr. It. sonetto, fr. suono a sound, a song, fr. L. sonus a sound. See Sound noise.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Mr. Henry Cary, on the Publication of His Sonnets 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 Mr. Henry Cary, on the Publication of His Sonnets, in Original Sonnets on Various Subjects (1799), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #27663, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/seward-sonnets/to-mr-henry-cary-on-the-publication-of-his-sonnets.html, id L09805.
Form and metre
To Mr. Henry Cary, on the Publication of His Sonnets 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 86%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 50% 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 claimA · belongB · songA · nameB · frameC · throngD · amongC · fameD · layE · shownF · displayE · aloneF · conveyG · ownG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Prais'd be the Poet, who the Sonnet's claim, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Severest of the orders that belong | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Distinct and separate to the Delphic Song, | 11 | ˘/·/˘···/˘· |
| Shall venerate, nor its appropriate name | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Lawless assume. Peculiar is its frame, | 10 | /˘˘/˘/˘··· |
| From him deriv'd, who shunn'd the City Throng, | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| And warbled sweet thy rocks and streams among, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Lonely Valclusa!--and that Heir of Fame, | 10 | /˘········ |
| Our greater MILTON, hath, by many a lay | 10 | //˘/˘··/·· |
| Form'd on that arduous model, fully shown | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| That English Verse may happily display | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘˘/ |
| Those strict energic measures, which alone | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Deserve the name of SONNET, and convey | 10 | ˘/···/˘·˘/ |
| A grandeur, grace and spirit, all their own. | 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.