To Mrs. Siddons
Siddons! the Muse, for many a joy refin'd,Feelings which ever seem too swiftly fled--For those delicious tears she loves to shed,Around thy brow the wreath of praise would bind--But can her feeble notes thy praise unfold?Repeat the tones each changing passion gives,Or mark where nature in thy action lives,Where, in thy pause, she speaks a pang untold!When fierce ambition steels thy daring breast,When from thy frantic look our glance recedes;Or oh, divine enthusiast! when opprestBy anxious love, that eye of softness pleads--The sun-beam all can feel, but who can traceThe instant light, and catch the radiant grace!
Words in this poem
- untold a.
- Not told; not related; not revealed; as, untold secrets.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Mrs. Siddons is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems (1786), Volume I., Project Gutenberg ebook #11054; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Helen Maria Williams, To Mrs. Siddons, in Poems (1786) (1786), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #11054, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/williams-helen-poems/to-mrs-siddons.html, id L10039.
Form and metre
To Mrs. Siddons is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBACDDCEFEFGG. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 95%). 93% 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. 14% 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 ABBACDDCEFEFGG refin'dA · fledB · shedB · bindA · unfoldC · givesD · livesD · untoldC · breastE · recedesF · opprestE · pleadsF · traceG · graceG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Siddons! the Muse, for many a joy refin'd, | 10 | /˘···/··˘/ |
| Feelings which ever seem too swiftly fled-- | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| For those delicious tears she loves to shed, | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Around thy brow the wreath of praise would bind-- | 10 | ·········· |
| But can her feeble notes thy praise unfold? | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Repeat the tones each changing passion gives, | 10 | ˘/···/˘/˘· |
| Or mark where nature in thy action lives, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Where, in thy pause, she speaks a pang untold! | 10 | ········˘/ |
| When fierce ambition steels thy daring breast, | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| When from thy frantic look our glance recedes; | 10 | ···/˘·/·˘/ |
| Or oh, divine enthusiast! when opprest | 11 | ··˘/˘/˘··/˘ |
| By anxious love, that eye of softness pleads-- | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| The sun-beam all can feel, but who can trace | 10 | ·········· |
| The instant light, and catch the radiant grace! | 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.