Giovan Battista Niccolini
The time will come when the ancient mother, raisingHer eyes upon the examples of the past,Shall see our land its lot with virtue cast,And virtuous souls virtue as friend appraising.
But now, from where the Alpine herds are grazingTo far Sicilian shore, in slumber fastLike jealous nurse she lulls them to the last,Lest they should wake and on those forms be gazing.
What worth to thee our feeble note of praise,Only the people's lullaby to mar?To thee but shame, to us but harm befalling!O happy those who 'mid the din of war,On thee, a prophet worthy of better days,With Dante and Vittorio shall be calling!
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- virtuous a.
- Possessing or exhibiting virtue. Specifically: -- (a) Exhibiting manly courage and strength; valorous; valiant; brave. [OE. vertuous, OF. vertuos, vertuous, F. vertueux, fr. L. Virtuous. See Virtue, and cf. Virtuoso.]
- sicilian a.
- Of or pertaining to Sicily or its inhabitants. Sicilian vespers, the great massacre of the French in Sicily, in the year 1282, on the evening of Easter Monday, at the hour of vespers.
- lullaby n.
- A song to quiet babes or lull them to sleep; that which quiets. [From Lull, v. t.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Giovan Battista Niccolini is in the public domain. This text is taken from By Frank Sewall (London: Osgood, McIlvaine & Co., 1893), Project Gutenberg ebook #56711, the Frank Sewall 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: Giosuè Carducci, Giovan Battista Niccolini, in Poems of Giosuè Carducci (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56711, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/carducci-poems/giovan-battista-niccolini.html, id L26536.
Form and metre
Giovan Battista Niccolini is 14 lines in 3 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABBA, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
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 raisingA · pastB · castB · appraisingA
- 2 ABBA grazingA · fastB · lastB · gazingA
- 3 A-B-AB praiseA · mar · befallingB · war · daysA · callingB
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 time will come when the ancient mother, raising | 12 | ······/˘/˘/˘ |
| Her eyes upon the examples of the past, | 11 | ·····˘/˘··· |
| Shall see our land its lot with virtue cast, | 10 | ··/····/˘· |
| And virtuous souls virtue as friend appraising. | 11 | ·/˘·/˘··˘/˘ |
| But now, from where the Alpine herds are grazing | 11 | ·····/···/˘ |
| To far Sicilian shore, in slumber fast | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Like jealous nurse she lulls them to the last, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Lest they should wake and on those forms be gazing. | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| What worth to thee our feeble note of praise, | 10 | ····//˘··· |
| Only the people's lullaby to mar? | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘··· |
| To thee but shame, to us but harm befalling! | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| O happy those who 'mid the din of war, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| On thee, a prophet worthy of better days, | 11 | ···/˘/˘·/˘· |
| With Dante and Vittorio shall be calling! | 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.