Antonio
In tracing o'er the isle no gold I find--Nought else but barren trees and craggy rocksWhere screaming sea-fowl mix their odious loves,And fields of burning marle, where devils playAnd men with copper skins talk barbarously;--What merit has our chief in sailing hither,Discovering countries of no real worth!Spain has enough of barren sands, no doubt,And savages in crowds are found at home;--Why then surmount the world's circumferenceMerely to stock us with this Indian breed?
Words in this poem
- isle v. t.
- To cause to become an island, or like an island; to surround or encompass; to island.
- screaming a.
- Uttering screams; shrieking.
- barbarously adv.
- In a barbarous manner.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Antonio is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Philip Freneau, Poet of the American Revolution. Volume 1 (of 3), Project Gutenberg ebook #38475; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Philip Freneau, Antonio, in Poems (1786–1815), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #38475, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/freneau-poems/antonio.html, id L12717.
Form and metre
Antonio is 11 lines in a single verse paragraph. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 80% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 27% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter, other poems in blank verse.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| In tracing o'er the isle no gold I find-- | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Nought else but barren trees and craggy rocks | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Where screaming sea-fowl mix their odious loves, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And fields of burning marle, where devils play | 11 | ···/˘···/˘· |
| And men with copper skins talk barbarously;-- | 11 | ···/˘··/˘˘˘ |
| What merit has our chief in sailing hither, | 11 | ·/˘·/··/˘/˘ |
| Discovering countries of no real worth! | 10 | ˘/˘˘/˘···· |
| Spain has enough of barren sands, no doubt, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| And savages in crowds are found at home;-- | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| Why then surmount the world's circumference | 9 | ··˘/··˘/˘ |
| Merely to stock us with this Indian breed? | 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.