The Brood of Ignorance
To quell three Titan evils I was made,--Tyranny, Sophistry, Hypocrisy;Whence I perceive with what wise harmonyThemis on me Love, Power, and Wisdom laid.These are the basements firm whereon is stayed,Supreme and strong, our new philosophy;The antidotes against that trinal lieWherewith the burdened world groaning is weighed.Famine, war, pestilence, fraud, envy, pride,Injustice, idleness, lust, fury, fear,Beneath these three great plagues securely hide.Grounded on blind self-love, the offspring dearOf Ignorance, they flourish and abide:--Wherefore to root up Ignorance I'm here!
Words in this poem
- quell v. t.
- To take the life of; to kill. [OE. quellen to kill, AS. cwellan, causative of cwelan to die; akin to OHG. quellen to torment, Icel. kvelja. See Quail to cower.]
- sophistry n.
- The art or process of reasoning; logic. [OE. sophistrie, OF. sophisterie.]
- themis n.
- The goddess of law and order; the patroness of existing rights.
- whereon adv.
- On which; -- used relatively; as, the earth whereon we live.
- stayed a.
- Staid; fixed; settled; sober; -- now written staid. See Staid.
- wherewith adv.
- With which; -- used relatively.
- famine n.
- General scarcity of food; dearth; a want of provisions; destitution. [F. famine, fr. L. fames hunger; cf. Gr. hani loss, lack, ha to leave.]
- lust v. i.
- To list; to like. [AS. lystan. See Lust, n., and cf. List to choose.]
- wherefore adv.
- For which reason; so; -- used relatively. [Where + for.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Brood of Ignorance 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, The Brood of Ignorance, in Sonnets (1878), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10314, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/campanella-sonnets/the-brood-of-ignorance.html, id L27808.
Form and metre
The Brood of Ignorance is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%).
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--AA--ABCBCBC madeA · hypocrisy · harmony · laidA · stayedA · philosophy · lie · weighedA · prideB · fearC · hideB · dearC · abideB · hereC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| To quell three Titan evils I was made,-- | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Tyranny, Sophistry, Hypocrisy; | 10 | /˘˘/˘˘˘/˘˘ |
| Whence I perceive with what wise harmony | 10 | ··˘/···/˘˘ |
| Themis on me Love, Power, and Wisdom laid. | 10 | /˘···/·/˘· |
| These are the basements firm whereon is stayed, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| Supreme and strong, our new philosophy; | 11 | ˘/··/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| The antidotes against that trinal lie | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Wherewith the burdened world groaning is weighed. | 10 | ˘/·/˘·/˘·· |
| Famine, war, pestilence, fraud, envy, pride, | 10 | /˘·/˘˘·/˘· |
| Injustice, idleness, lust, fury, fear, | 10 | ˘/˘/˘˘·/˘· |
| Beneath these three great plagues securely hide. | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Grounded on blind self-love, the offspring dear | 10 | /˘·····/·· |
| Of Ignorance, they flourish and abide:-- | 10 | ·/˘˘·/˘·˘/ |
| Wherefore to root up Ignorance I'm here! | 10 | /˘···/˘˘·· |
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