Sonnet
Methinks ofttimes my heart is like some beeThat goes forth through the summer day and sings.And gathers honey from all growing thingsIn garden plot or on the clover lea.
When the long afternoon grows late, and sheWould seek her hive, she cannot lift her wings.So heavily the too sweet burden clings,From which she would not, and yet would, fly free.
So with my full, fond heart; for when it triesTo lift itself to peace crowned heights, aboveThe common way where countless feet have trod,Lo! then, this burden of dear human ties,This growing weight of precious earthly love,Binds down the spirit that would soar to God.
Words in this poem
- methinks v.
- It seems to me; I think. See Me. [AS. þyncan to seem, me þynceedh, me þuhte, OE. me thinketh, me thoughte; akin to G. dünken to seem, denken to think, and E. think. See Me, and Think.]
- ofttimes adv.
- Frequently; often. [Oft + time. Cf. -wards.]
- afternoon n.
- The part of the day which follows noon, between noon and evening.
- countless a.
- Incapable of being counted; not ascertainable; innumerable.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems of Passion, Project Gutenberg ebook #16776; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Sonnet, in Poems of Passion (1883), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16776, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wilcox-passion/sonnet.html, id L22210.
Form and metre
Sonnet is 14 lines in 3 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABBA, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
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 ABBA beeA · singsB · thingsB · leaA
- 2 ABBA sheA · wingsB · clingsB · freeA
- 3 ABCABC triesA · aboveB · trodC · tiesA · loveB · 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Methinks ofttimes my heart is like some bee | 10 | ˘//˘······ |
| That goes forth through the summer day and sings. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And gathers honey from all growing things | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| In garden plot or on the clover lea. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| When the long afternoon grows late, and she | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Would seek her hive, she cannot lift her wings. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| So heavily the too sweet burden clings, | 10 | ·/˘˘···/˘· |
| From which she would not, and yet would, fly free. | 10 | ·········· |
| So with my full, fond heart; for when it tries | 10 | ·········· |
| To lift itself to peace crowned heights, above | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| The common way where countless feet have trod, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Lo! then, this burden of dear human ties, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| This growing weight of precious earthly love, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Binds down the spirit that would soar to 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.