Sonnet
Lift not the painted veil which those who liveCall Life: though unreal shapes be pictured there,And it but mimic all we would believeWith colours idly spread,--behind, lurk FearAnd Hope, twin Destinies; who ever weaveTheir shadows, o'er the chasm, sightless and drear.I knew one who had lifted it--he sought,For his lost heart was tender, things to loveBut found them not, alas! nor was there aughtThe world contains, the which he could approve.Through the unheeding many he did move,A splendour among shadows, a bright blotUpon this gloomy scene, a Spirit that stroveFor truth, and like the Preacher found it not.
Words in this poem
- pictured a.
- Furnished with pictures; represented by a picture or pictures; as, a pictured scene.
- sightless a.
- Wanting sight; without sight; blind.
- drear n.
- Sadness; dismalness.
- aught n.
- Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
- splendour n.
- Great brightness; brilliant luster; brilliancy; as, the splendor ot the sun. B. Jonson. [L. fr. splendere to shine: cf. F. splendeur.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet 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, 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.html, id L16343.
Form and metre
Sonnet is 14 lines in a single stanza. 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 8.9 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 44% 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 -ABABACDCDDE-E live · thereA · believeB · fearA · weaveB · drearA · soughtC · loveD · aughtC · approveD · moveD · blotE · strove · notE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Lift not the painted veil which those who live | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Call Life: though unreal shapes be pictured there, | 10 | ···˘/··/˘· |
| And it but mimic all we would believe | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| With colours idly spread,--behind, lurk Fear | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| And Hope, twin Destinies; who ever weave | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘· |
| Their shadows, o'er the chasm, sightless and drear. | 11 | ·/···/˘/˘·· |
| I knew one who had lifted it--he sought, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| For his lost heart was tender, things to love | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| But found them not, alas! nor was there aught | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| The world contains, the which he could approve. | 10 | ··˘/····˘/ |
| Through the unheeding many he did move, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| A splendour among shadows, a bright blot | 10 | ·/˘··/···· |
| Upon this gloomy scene, a Spirit that strove | 10 | ···/˘··/·· |
| For truth, and like the Preacher found it not. | 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.