To D. Alonso De Avalo, Marquis Del Vasto XXI
With keen desire to see what the fine swellOf thy white bosom in its core keeps shrined,If the interior graces of the mindIts outward shape and loveliness excel,I have my sight fixed on it; but the spellOf its voluptuous beauty holds mine eyesIn such enchantment, that their curious spiesPass not to mark the spirit in its cell,And thus stay weeping at the portal, madeTo grieve me by that hiding hand which evenHolds its own bosom's beauty unforgiven;So I behold my hope to death betrayed,And love's sharp lances, rarely known to fail,Serve not to pierce beyond its muslin mail.
Words in this poem
- loveliness n.
- The state or quality of being lovely. [From Lovely.]
- curious a.
- Difficult to please or satisfy; solicitous to be correct; careful; scrupulous; nice; exact. [OF. curios, curius, F. curieux, L. curiosus careful, inquisitive, fr. cura care. See Cure.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To D. Alonso De Avalo, Marquis Del Vasto XXI is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Works of Garcilasso de la Vega, Project Gutenberg ebook #49410, the J. H. Wiffen 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: Garcilaso de la Vega, To D. Alonso De Avalo, Marquis Del Vasto XXI, in The Works of Garcilasso de la Vega (1823), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #49410, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/garcilaso-works/to-d-alonso-de-avalo-marquis-del-vasto-xxi.html, id L18723.
Form and metre
To D. Alonso De Avalo, Marquis Del Vasto XXI is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 50% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABBAACCAD--DEE swellA · shrinedB · mindB · excelA · spellA · eyesC · spiesC · cellA · madeD · even · unforgiven · betrayedD · failE · mailE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| With keen desire to see what the fine swell | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Of thy white bosom in its core keeps shrined, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| If the interior graces of the mind | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| Its outward shape and loveliness excel, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘˘/ |
| I have my sight fixed on it; but the spell | 10 | ·········· |
| Of its voluptuous beauty holds mine eyes | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| In such enchantment, that their curious spies | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Pass not to mark the spirit in its cell, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And thus stay weeping at the portal, made | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| To grieve me by that hiding hand which even | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Holds its own bosom's beauty unforgiven; | 11 | ···/˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| So I behold my hope to death betrayed, | 10 | ··˘/····˘/ |
| And love's sharp lances, rarely known to fail, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Serve not to pierce beyond its muslin mail. | 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.