Translation
Behold the Day an image of the Year!The Year an image of our life's short span!Morn, like the Spring, with growing light began,Spring, like our Youth, with joy, and beauty fair;Noon picturing Summer;--Summer's ardent sphereManhood's gay portrait.--Eve, like Autumn, wan,Autumn resembling faded age in Man;Night, with its silence, and its darkness drear,Emblem of Winter's frore and gloomy reign,When torpid lie the vegetative Powers;Winter, so shrunk, so cold, reminds us plainOf the mute Grave, that o'er the dim Corse lours;There shall the Weary rest, nor ought remainTo the pale Slumberer of Life's checker'd hours.
Words in this poem
- 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.]
- drear n.
- Sadness; dismalness.
- vegetative a.
- Growing, or having the power of growing, as plants; capable of vegetating. [Cf. F. végétatif.]
- corse n.
- A living body or its bulk. [OF. cors, F. corps. See Corpse.]
- 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,]
- ought p. p.
- Was or were under obligation to pay; owed. [Orig. the preterit of the verb to owe. OE. oughte, aughte, ahte, AS. ahte. sq. root110. See Owe.]
- slumberer n.
- One who slumbers; a sleeper.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Translation 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, Translation, in Original Sonnets on Various Subjects (1799), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #27663, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/seward-sonnets/translation-2.html, id L09782.
Form and metre
Translation 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 85%). 84% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 21% 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 yearA · spanB · beganA · fairB · sphereC · wanD · manC · drearD · reignE · powersF · plainE · loursF · remainG · hoursG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Behold the Day an image of the Year! | 10 | ˘/···/˘··· |
| The Year an image of our life's short span! | 10 | ···/˘·/··· |
| Morn, like the Spring, with growing light began, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Spring, like our Youth, with joy, and beauty fair; | 10 | ··/····/˘· |
| Noon picturing Summer;--Summer's ardent sphere | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| Manhood's gay portrait.--Eve, like Autumn, wan, | 10 | /··/˘··/˘· |
| Autumn resembling faded age in Man; | 10 | /˘˘/˘/˘··· |
| Night, with its silence, and its darkness drear, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Emblem of Winter's frore and gloomy reign, | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| When torpid lie the vegetative Powers; | 11 | ·/˘···˘/˘/˘ |
| Winter, so shrunk, so cold, reminds us plain | 10 | /˘····˘/·· |
| Of the mute Grave, that o'er the dim Corse lours; | 10 | ·········· |
| There shall the Weary rest, nor ought remain | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| To the pale Slumberer of Life's checker'd hours. | 11 | ···/˘˘··/˘/ |
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.