Poetry · Chapter
Sonnet: To One Who Has Long in City Pent explained
The speaker describes the profound relief and joy of escaping the city to immerse oneself in nature, finding peace in the open sky, a grassy resting place, and a gentle love story.
What happens
The speaker describes the profound relief and joy of escaping the city to immerse oneself in nature, finding peace in the open sky, a grassy resting place, and a gentle love story. The day ends too quickly, mourned like an angel's silent tear falling through the clear air.
Themes in this chapter
Nature and Imagination
The poem celebrates the natural world as a source of solace and beauty, from the 'fair and open face of heaven' to the 'wavy grass' and the song of Philomel.
Sorrow and Melancholy
The speaker mourns the swift passage of the day, comparing it to an angel's tear, evoking a gentle melancholy.
Characters to notice
- Unknown
The speaker who addresses the person long pent in the city, describing the sweet escape into nature.
Key passages
“To one who has been long in city pent, ’Tis very sweet to look into the fair And open face of heaven,—to breathe a prayer Full in the smile of the blue firmament.”
For someone trapped in the city, it is wonderfully refreshing to gaze at the beautiful, open sky and offer a prayer while bathed in the sunlight.
Opens with the contrast between urban confinement and natural freedom.
“Who is more happy, when, with hearts content, Fatigued he sinks into some pleasant lair Of wavy grass, and reads a debonair And gentle tale of love and languishment?”
Who could be happier than a person who, tired but content, lies down in a grassy spot and reads a charming, tender love story?
Describes the simple joy of resting in nature while reading a gentle romance.
“Returning home at evening, with an ear Catching the notes of Philomel,—an eye Watching the sailing cloudlet’s bright career, He mourns that day so soon has glided by: E’en like the passage of an angel’s tear That falls through the clear ether silently.”
Going home in the evening, listening to the nightingale and watching a small cloud drift, he grieves that the day has passed so quickly—like an angel's tear falling silently through the clear sky.
Ends with a poignant image of the fleeting day, likened to an angel's silent tear.