Sun and Love
Fleecy and white into the western spaceHurry the clouds; the wet sky laughsOver the market and streets; and the labour of manIs hailed by the sun, benign, triumphal.
High in the rosy light lifts the cathedralIts thousand pinnacles white and its saints of goldFlashing forth its hosannas; while all aroundFlutter the wings and the notes of the brown-plumed choir.
So 'tis when love and its sweet smile dispelThe clouds which had so sorely me oppressed;The sun again arises in my soulWith all life's holiest ideals renewed
And multiplied, the while each thought becomesA harmony and every sense a song.
Words in this poem
- fleecy a.
- Covered with, made of, or resembling, a fleece.
- triumphal n.
- A token of victory.
- dispel v. t.
- To drive away by scattering, or so to cause to vanish; to clear away; to banish; to dissipate; as, to dispel a cloud, vapors, cares, doubts, illusions. [L. dispellere; dis- + pellere to push, drive. See Pulse a beating.]
- sorely adv.
- In a sore manner; grievously; painfully; as, to be sorely afflicted.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sun and Love 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, Sun and Love, in Poems of Giosuè Carducci (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56711, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/carducci-poems/sun-and-love.html, id L26511.
Form and metre
Sun and Love is 14 lines in 4 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.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Fleecy and white into the western space | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| Hurry the clouds; the wet sky laughs | 8 | /˘······ |
| Over the market and streets; and the labour of man | 12 | ··/˘····/··· |
| Is hailed by the sun, benign, triumphal. | 10 | ·····˘/˘/˘ |
| High in the rosy light lifts the cathedral | 11 | ···/˘···˘/˘ |
| Its thousand pinnacles white and its saints of gold | 11 | ·/˘/˘······ |
| Flashing forth its hosannas; while all around | 11 | /˘········· |
| Flutter the wings and the notes of the brown-plumed choir. | 12 | /˘·········/ |
| So 'tis when love and its sweet smile dispel | 10 | ········˘/ |
| The clouds which had so sorely me oppressed; | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| The sun again arises in my soul | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| With all life's holiest ideals renewed | 10 | ···/˘˘˘/˘/ |
| And multiplied, the while each thought becomes | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| A harmony and every sense a song. | 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.