Sonnet 04

Henry Timrod 1828 (Charleston) – 1867 (Columbia)



They dub thee idler, smiling sneeringly,
And why? because, forsooth, so many moons,
Here dwelling voiceless by the voiceful sea,
Thou hast not set thy thoughts to paltry tunes
In song or sonnet.  Them these golden noons
Oppress not with their beauty; they could prate,
Even while a prophet read the solemn runes
On which is hanging some imperial fate.
How know they, these good gossips, what to thee
The ocean and its wanderers may have brought?
How know they, in their busy vacancy,
With what far aim thy spirit may be fraught?
Or that thou dost not bow thee silently
Before some great unutterable thought?

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

32 sec read
86

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCBBDBDCDCDAD
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 602
Words 108
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14

Henry Timrod

Henry Timrod was an American poet, often called the poet laureate of the Confederacy. more…

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