Sonnet Form

Wordworth’s use of the English sonnet conventions affect the way it is interpreted. The first quatrain sets the scene and immediately we understand that Helen Williams crying brings about a response in Wordsworth that is strong and involuntary. Just the sight of her tears causes Wordsworth to have an extra-sensory experience; he can actually feel his blood in his veins and his heart can hardly handle it. The second quatrain continues to describe his bodily response, and Wordsworth returns to his normal physical state. The third quatrain reflects upon this tear of Helen Williams. He compares it to a star that is always in the sky, regardless of whether or not he can see it. The couplet at the end stands out with its irregular rhyme scheme. It ends on a hopeful note. But what if this sonnet was broken up with the conventions of the Italian sonnet? Like this:

She wept.--Life's purple tide began to flow

In languid streams through every thrilling vein;

Dim were my swimming eyes--my pulse beat slow,

And my full heart was swell'd to dear delicious pain.

Life left my loaded heart, and closing eye;

A sigh recall'd the wanderer to my breast;

Dear was the pause of life, and dear the sigh

That call'd the wanderer home, and home to rest.

That tear proclaims--in thee each virtue dwells,

And bright will shine in misery's midnight hour;

As the soft star of dewy evening tells

What radiant fires were drown'd by day's malignant pow'r,

That only wait the darkness of the night

To cheer the wand'ring wretch with hospitable light.

The first octet captures all of Wordsworth’s responses to the tear. The sestet contains all of Wordsworth’s musing of the tear and its comparison to the evening star. I know that the rhyme scheme does not follow Italian sonnet conventions, but I think the breaking of the lines makes more sense. The eight and six line divisions separate the ideas in a way that make more sense to me.