To Tobia Adami
Holding the cynic lantern in your hand,Through Europe, Egypt, Asia, you have passed,Till at Ausonia's feet you find at lastThat Cyclops' cave, where I, to darkness banned,In light eternal forge for you the brandAgainst Abaddon, who hath overcastThe truth and right, Adami, made full fastUnto God's glory by our steadfast band.Go, smite each sophist, tyrant, hypocrite!Girt with the arms of the first Wisdom, freeYour country from the frauds that cumber it!Swerve not: 'twere sin. How good, how great the praiseOf him who turns youth, strength, soul, energy,Unto the dayspring of the eternal rays!
Words in this poem
- cynic a.
- Having the qualities of a surly dog; snarling; captious; currish. [L. cynicus of the sect of Cynics, fr. Gr. Hound.]
- abaddon n.
- The destroyer, or angel of the bottomless pit; -- the same as Apollyon and Asmodeus. [Heb. abaddon destruction, abyss, fr. abad to be lost, to perish.]
- overcast v. t.
- To cast or cover over; hence, to cloud; to darken.
- girt v. t.
- To gird; to encircle; to invest by means of a girdle; to measure the girth of; as, to girt a tree. [From Girt, n., cf. Girth, v.]
- cumber n.
- Trouble; embarrassment; distress. [Cf. encombre hindrance, impediment. See Cuber,v.]
- dayspring n.
- The beginning of the day, or first appearance of light; the dawn; hence, the beginning.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Tobia Adami 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, To Tobia Adami, in Sonnets (1878), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10314, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/campanella-sonnets/to-tobia-adami.html, id L27859.
Form and metre
To Tobia Adami is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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 ABBAABBAC-CD-D handA · passedB · lastB · bannedA · brandA · overcastB · fastB · bandA · hypocriteC · free · itC · praiseD · energy · raysD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Holding the cynic lantern in your hand, | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘··· |
| Through Europe, Egypt, Asia, you have passed, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Till at Ausonia's feet you find at last | 10 | ·········· |
| That Cyclops' cave, where I, to darkness banned, | 10 | ·/·····/˘· |
| In light eternal forge for you the brand | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Against Abaddon, who hath overcast | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| The truth and right, Adami, made full fast | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Unto God's glory by our steadfast band. | 10 | ···/˘·//·· |
| Go, smite each sophist, tyrant, hypocrite! | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| Girt with the arms of the first Wisdom, free | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Your country from the frauds that cumber it! | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Swerve not: 'twere sin. How good, how great the praise | 10 | ·········· |
| Of him who turns youth, strength, soul, energy, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Unto the dayspring of the eternal rays! | 11 | ···/˘··˘/˘· |
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.