Analysis of Sonnet V. To The South Downs

Charlotte Smith 1749 (London) – 1806 (Tilford, Surrey)



AH! hills beloved!--where once, a happy child,
Your beechen shades, 'your turf, your flowers among,'
I wove your blue-bells into garlands wild,
And woke your echoes with my artless song.
Ah! hills beloved!--your turf, your flowers remain;
But can they peace to this sad breast restore,
For one poor moment soothe the sense of pain,
And teach a breaking heart to throb no more?
And you, Aruna!--in the vale below,
As to the sea your limpid waves you bear
Can you one kind Lethean cup bestow,
To drink a long oblivion to my care?
Ah! no!--when all, e'en Hope's last ray is gone,
There's no oblivion--but in death alone!


Scheme ABACDEDEFGFGHI
Poetic Form
Metre 1101110101 1111111001 111110111 011101111 11011111001 1111111101 1111010111 0101011111 01100101 110111111 11111101 11010100111 11111111111 11010010101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 612
Words 116
Sentences 12
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 467
Words per stanza (avg) 109
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 30, 2023

35 sec read
202

Charlotte Smith

Charlotte Turner Smith was an English Romantic poet and novelist. She initiated a revival of the English sonnet, helped establish the conventions of Gothic fiction, and wrote political novels of sensibility. A successful writer, she published ten novels, three books of poetry, four children's books, and other assorted works over the course of her career. She saw herself as a poet first and foremost, poetry at that period being considered the most exalted form of literature. Scholars now credit her with transforming the sonnet into an expression of woeful sentiment. more…

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