Analysis of Sonnet LXXVI. To A Young Man Entering The World

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



GO now, ingenious youth!--The trying hour
Is come: The world demands that thou shouldst go
To active life: There titles, wealth, and power,
May all be purchased--Yet I joy to know
Thou wilt not pay their price. The base control
Of petty despots in their pedant reign
Already hast thou felt;--and high disdain
Of tyrants is imprinted on thy soul--
Not, where mistaken Glory, in the field
Rears her red banner, be thou ever found:
But, against proud Oppression raise the shield
Of patriot daring--So shalt thou renown'd
For the best virtues live ; or that denied
May'st die, as Hampden or as Sydney died!


Scheme ABABCDDCEFEFGG
Poetic Form
Metre 11010101010 1101011111 11011101010 1111011111 1111110101 11010111 0101110101 1101010111 1101010001 1011011101 1011010101 11001011101 1011011101 1111111101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 597
Words 108
Sentences 4
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 469
Words per stanza (avg) 105
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

33 sec read
50

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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