Nebuchadnezzar's Image
The golden head was Babylon; she passed:Persia came next, the silvern breast: wheretoJoined brazen flank and belly--these are you,Ye men of Macedon! Now Rome's the last.Rome on two iron legs towered tall and vast;But at her feet were toes of clay, that drewDownfall: those scattered tribes erewhile she knewFor lords; now 'neath her fatal sway they're cast.Ah thirsty soil! From your parched fallow fumesA smoke of pride, vain-glory, cruelty,That blinds, infects, and blackens, and consumes!To Daniel, to the Bible you refuseYour rebel sense; for it is still your useTo screen yourself with lies and sophistry.
Words in this poem
- silvern a.
- Made of silver. Wyclif (Acts xix. 24). [AS. seolfern, sylfren.]
- whereto adv.
- To which; -- used relatively.
- towered a.
- Adorned or defended by towers.
- downfall n.
- A sudden fall; a body of things falling.
- erewhile adv.
- Some time ago; a little while before; heretofore.
- rebel a.
- Pertaining to rebels or rebellion; acting in revolt; rebellious; as, rebel troops. [F. rebelle, fr. L. rebellis. See Rebel, v. t.]
- sophistry n.
- The art or process of reasoning; logic. [OE. sophistrie, OF. sophisterie.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Nebuchadnezzar's Image is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Sonnets of Michael Angelo Buonarroti and Tommaso Campanella, Project Gutenberg ebook #10314, the John Addington Symonds translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Tommaso Campanella, Nebuchadnezzar's Image, in Sonnets (1878), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10314, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/campanella-sonnets/nebuchadnezzar-s-image.html, id L27848.
Form and metre
Nebuchadnezzar's Image is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 A-BAABBAC-CDD- passedA · whereto · youB · lastA · vastA · drewB · knewB · castA · fumesC · cruelty · consumesC · refuseD · useD · sophistry
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The golden head was Babylon; she passed: | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Persia came next, the silvern breast: whereto | 10 | /˘···/˘·˘/ |
| Joined brazen flank and belly--these are you, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Ye men of Macedon! Now Rome's the last. | 10 | ·········· |
| Rome on two iron legs towered tall and vast; | 10 | ···/·/˘··· |
| But at her feet were toes of clay, that drew | 10 | ·········· |
| Downfall: those scattered tribes erewhile she knew | 12 | /··/˘······· |
| For lords; now 'neath her fatal sway they're cast. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Ah thirsty soil! From your parched fallow fumes | 10 | ·/˘····/·· |
| A smoke of pride, vain-glory, cruelty, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| That blinds, infects, and blackens, and consumes! | 10 | ··˘/·/˘·˘/ |
| To Daniel, to the Bible you refuse | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Your rebel sense; for it is still your use | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| To screen yourself with lies and sophistry. | 10 | ··˘/···/˘˘ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.