The Philosopher
Wisdom is riches great and great estate,Far above wealth; nor are the wise unblestIf born of lineage vile or race oppressed:These by their doom sublime they illustrate.
They have their griefs for guerdon, to dilateTheir name and glory; nay, the cross, the swordMake them to be like saints or God adored;And gladness greets them in the frowns of fate:
For joys and sorrows are their dear delight;Even as a lover takes the weal and woeFelt for his lady. Such is wisdom's might.
But wealth still vexes fools; more vile they growBy being noble; and their luckless lightWith each new misadventure burns more low.
Words in this poem
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- unblest a.
- Not blest; excluded from benediction; hence, accursed; wretched. [Pref. un- not + blessed, blest.]
- guerdon n.
- A reward; requital; recompense; -- used in both a good and a bad sense. [OF. guerdon, guerredon, LL. widerdonum (influenced by L. donum gift, cf. Donation ), fr. OHG. widarl; widar again, against (G. wider wieder) + lon reward, G. lo]
- luckless a.
- Being without luck; unpropitious; unfortunate; unlucky; meeting with ill success or bad fortune; as, a luckless gamester; a luckless maid.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Philosopher 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 Philosopher, in Sonnets (1878), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10314, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/campanella-sonnets/the-philosopher.html, id L27812.
Form and metre
The Philosopher is 14 lines in 4 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABBA, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
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 ABBA estateA · unblestB · oppressedB · illustrateA
- 2 ABBA dilateA · swordB · adoredB · fateA
- 3 A-A delightA · woe · mightA
- 4 A-A growA · light · lowA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Wisdom is riches great and great estate, | 10 | /˘·/˘···˘/ |
| Far above wealth; nor are the wise unblest | 10 | ·········· |
| If born of lineage vile or race oppressed: | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| These by their doom sublime they illustrate. | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| They have their griefs for guerdon, to dilate | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Their name and glory; nay, the cross, the sword | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Make them to be like saints or God adored; | 10 | ········˘/ |
| And gladness greets them in the frowns of fate: | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| For joys and sorrows are their dear delight; | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Even as a lover takes the weal and woe | 10 | /··/˘····· |
| Felt for his lady. Such is wisdom's might. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| But wealth still vexes fools; more vile they grow | 10 | ·········· |
| By being noble; and their luckless light | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| With each new misadventure burns more low. | 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.