To D. Alonso De Avalo, Marquis Del Vasto
Illustrious Marquis, on whom Heaven showers downAll the bliss this world knows! if to the lightOf thy resplendent valour--to the heightWhereto the voice of thy sublime renownCalls me, I climb, as to the flaming crownOf some stupendous mountain, thou shalt beEternal, peerless, sole, and I through theeScornful of winged Time's destructive frown.All that we wish from heaven, and gain on earth,Are in thy high perfections met; in short,Thou art the unique wonder, at whose birthHer world of bright conceptions Nature scanned,Singled the best, and with Dædalian hand,Thrice livelier than her cast the statue wrought.
Words in this poem
- whereto adv.
- To which; -- used relatively.
- stupendous a.
- Astonishing; wonderful; amazing; especially, astonishing in magnitude or elevation; as, a stupendous pile. [L. stupendus astonishing, p. future pass. of stupere to be astonished at. Cf. Stupid.]
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- unique a.
- Being without a like or equal; unmatched; unequaled; unparalleled; single in kind or excellence; sole. [F. unique; cf. It. unico; from L. unicus, from unus one. See One.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To D. Alonso De Avalo, Marquis Del Vasto 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, 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.html, id L18722.
Form and metre
To D. Alonso De Avalo, Marquis Del Vasto is 14 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 57% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 57% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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- downA · lightB · heightB · renownA · crownA · beC · theeC · frownA · earthD · short · birthD · scannedE · handE · wrought
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Illustrious Marquis, on whom Heaven showers down | 10 | ˘/˘·/··//· |
| All the bliss this world knows! if to the light | 10 | ·········· |
| Of thy resplendent valour--to the height | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| Whereto the voice of thy sublime renown | 10 | ˘/····˘/˘/ |
| Calls me, I climb, as to the flaming crown | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Of some stupendous mountain, thou shalt be | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| Eternal, peerless, sole, and I through thee | 10 | ˘/˘/˘····· |
| Scornful of winged Time's destructive frown. | 10 | /˘··˘·˘/˘· |
| All that we wish from heaven, and gain on earth, | 10 | ·····/···· |
| Are in thy high perfections met; in short, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Thou art the unique wonder, at whose birth | 10 | ···˘//˘··· |
| Her world of bright conceptions Nature scanned, | 10 | ····˘/˘/˘· |
| Singled the best, and with Dædalian hand, | 10 | /˘········ |
| Thrice livelier than her cast the statue wrought. | 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.