Vincenzo Monti
When burst thy rapid songs from out a brainA god had struck, his ready kindred knowing,In mighty flood like that which from the plainOf Eridanus to the sea is going,
Then rose the immortal siren whose domainHolds Virgil's ashes, and her breath bestowingAs from an ancient urn disturbed again,Sweet harmonies as of lyres and reeds were flowing.
Along the circling shores its measures flingingCame as of bees hid in Ravenna's gloomThe Tuscan verse of Dante softly ringing;The Po sent back its trumpet note of doom.Thou ceased. No more was heard the holy singing,Virgil was still, and Allighieri's tomb.
Words in this poem
- eridanus n.
- A long, winding constellation extending southward from Taurus and containing the bright star Achernar.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Vincenzo Monti 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, Vincenzo Monti, in Poems of Giosuè Carducci (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56711, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/carducci-poems/vincenzo-monti.html, id L26535.
Form and metre
Vincenzo Monti is 14 lines in 3 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. 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 ABAB brainA · knowingB · plainA · goingB
- 2 ABAB domainA · bestowingB · againA · flowingB
- 3 ABABAB flingingA · gloomB · ringingA · doomB · singingA · tombB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When burst thy rapid songs from out a brain | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| A god had struck, his ready kindred knowing, | 11 | ·····/˘/˘/˘ |
| In mighty flood like that which from the plain | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Of Eridanus to the sea is going, | 11 | ·˘/˘˘····/˘ |
| Then rose the immortal siren whose domain | 11 | ···˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Holds Virgil's ashes, and her breath bestowing | 11 | ·/˘/˘···˘/˘ |
| As from an ancient urn disturbed again, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘/ |
| Sweet harmonies as of lyres and reeds were flowing. | 10 | ·/˘······/ |
| Along the circling shores its measures flinging | 11 | ˘/·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Came as of bees hid in Ravenna's gloom | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| The Tuscan verse of Dante softly ringing; | 11 | ·/˘··/˘/˘/˘ |
| The Po sent back its trumpet note of doom. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Thou ceased. No more was heard the holy singing, | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Virgil was still, and Allighieri's tomb. | 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.