Analysis of Sonnet LXIII: The Gossamer

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



O'er faded heath-flowers spun, or thorny furze,
The filmy Gossamer is lightly spread;
Waving in every sighing air that stirs,
As Fairy fingers had entwined the thread:
A thousand trembling orbs of lucid dew
Spangle the texture of the fairy loom,
As if soft Sylphs, lamenting as they flew,
Had wept departed Summer's transient bloom:
But the wind rises, and the turf receives
The glittering web: -- So, evanescent, fade
Bright views that Youth with sanguine heart believes:
So vanish schemes of bliss, by Fancy made;
Which, fragile as the fleeting dews of morn,
Leave but the wither'd heath, and barren thorn!


Scheme ABABCDCDAEAEFF
Poetic Form
Metre 101011011101 011001101 10010010111 1101010101 01010011101 1001010101 1111010111 1101010101 1011000101 0100110101 1111110101 1101111101 1101010111 1101010101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 603
Words 104
Sentences 2
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 481
Words per stanza (avg) 102
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

32 sec read
82

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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