Sonnet to Byron
If I esteemed you less, Envy would killPleasure, and leave to Wonder and DespairThe ministration of the thoughts that fillThe mind which, like a worm whose life may shareA portion of the unapproachable,Marks your creations rise as fast and fairAs perfect worlds at the Creator's will.
But such is my regard that nor your powerTo soar above the heights where others [climb],Nor fame, that shadow of the unborn hourCast from the envious future on the time,Move one regret for his unhonoured nameWho dares these words:--the worm beneath the sodMay lift itself in homage of the God.
Words in this poem
- ministration n.
- The act of ministering; service; ministry. [L. ministratio, fr. ministrare.]
- unborn a.
- Not born; no yet brought into life; being still to appear; future.
- envious a.
- Malignant; mischievous; spiteful. [OF. envios, F. envieux, fr. L. invidiosus, fr. invidia envy. See Envy, and cf. Invidious.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet to Byron is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley — Volume 2, Project Gutenberg ebook #4798; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Percy Bysshe Shelley, Sonnet to Byron, in Ode to the West Wind, and Other Poems (1816–1819), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #4798, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shelley-later-poems/sonnet-to-byron.html, id L16460.
Form and metre
Sonnet to Byron is 14 lines in 2 stanzas of 7 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 64% 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 ABAB-BA killA · despairB · fillA · shareB · unapproachable · fairB · willA
- 2 ABAB-CC powerA · climbB · hourA · timeB · name · sodC · godC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| If I esteemed you less, Envy would kill | 10 | ··˘/··/˘·· |
| Pleasure, and leave to Wonder and Despair | 10 | /˘···/˘·˘/ |
| The ministration of the thoughts that fill | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| The mind which, like a worm whose life may share | 10 | ·········· |
| A portion of the unapproachable, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Marks your creations rise as fast and fair | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| As perfect worlds at the Creator's will. | 10 | ·/····˘/˘· |
| But such is my regard that nor your power | 11 | ····˘/···/˘ |
| To soar above the heights where others [climb], | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Nor fame, that shadow of the unborn hour | 11 | ···/···///˘ |
| Cast from the envious future on the time, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Move one regret for his unhonoured name | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Who dares these words:--the worm beneath the sod | 10 | ·········· |
| May lift itself in homage of the God. | 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.