Analysis of Sonnet From The Portuguese Of Semedo

William Cullen Bryant 1794 (Cummington) – 1878 (New York City)



It is a fearful night; a feeble glare
Streams from the sick moon in the o'erclouded sky;
The ridgy billows, with a mighty cry,
Rush on the foamy beaches wild and bare;
No bark the madness of the waves will dare;
The sailors sleep; the winds are loud and high;
Ah, peerless Laura! for whose love I die,
Who gazes on thy smiles while I despair?
As thus, in bitterness of heart, I cried,
I turned, and saw my Laura, kind and bright,
A messenger of gladness, at my side:
To my poor bark she sprang with footstep light,
And as we furrowed Tago's heaving tide,
I never saw so beautiful a night.


Scheme ABBAABBACDCDCD
Poetic Form
Metre 1101010101 110110011 011010101 1101010101 1101010111 0101011101 1101011111 1101111101 1101001111 1101110101 010011111 111111111 011101101 1101110001
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 583
Words 115
Sentences 4
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 32
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 451
Words per stanza (avg) 113
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

35 sec read
107

William Cullen Bryant

William Cullen Bryant was an American romantic poet, journalist, and long-time editor of the New York Evening Post. more…

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