To Silvio Pellico, on Reading His “Prigione”
There are who climb the mountain’s heathery side,Or, in life’s vernal strength triumphant, urgeThe bark’s fleet rushing through the crested surge,Or spur the courser’s fiery race of prideOver the green savannahs, gleaming wideBy some vast lake; yet thus, on foaming sea,Or chainless wild, reign far less nobly freeThan thou, in that lone dungeon, glorifiedBy thy brave suffering. Thou from its dark cellFierce thought and baleful passion didst exclude,Filling the dedicated solitudeWith God; and where His Spirit deigns to dwell,Though the worn frame in fetters withering lie,There throned in peace divine is liberty!
Words in this poem
- heathery a.
- Heathy; abounding in heather; of the nature of heath.
- courser n.
- One who courses or hunts. [F. coursier.]
- chainless a.
- Having no chain; not restrained or fettered.
- nobly adv.
- Of noble extraction; as, nobly born or descended.
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- dungeon n.
- A close, dark prison, commondonjon or keep of a castle, these being used as prisons. [OE. donjoun highest tower of a castle, tower, prison, F. donjon tower or platform in the midst of a castle, turret, or closet on the top of a house, a keep of a]
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
- withering a.
- Tending to wither; causing to shrink or fade.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Silvio Pellico, on Reading His “Prigione” is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Felicia Hemans, Project Gutenberg ebook #66785; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Felicia Hemans, To Silvio Pellico, on Reading His “Prigione”, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/to-silvio-pellico-on-reading-his-prigione.html, id L19817.
Form and metre
To Silvio Pellico, on Reading His “Prigione” 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 86%).
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 ABBAACCADEED-- sideA · urgeB · surgeB · prideA · wideA · seaC · freeC · glorifiedA · cellD · excludeE · solitudeE · dwellD · lie · liberty
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 |
|---|---|---|
| There are who climb the mountain’s heathery side, | 11 | ·····/˘/˘˘· |
| Or, in life’s vernal strength triumphant, urge | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| The bark’s fleet rushing through the crested surge, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Or spur the courser’s fiery race of pride | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Over the green savannahs, gleaming wide | 10 | ····˘/˘/˘· |
| By some vast lake; yet thus, on foaming sea, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Or chainless wild, reign far less nobly free | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Than thou, in that lone dungeon, glorified | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| By thy brave suffering. Thou from its dark cell | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Fierce thought and baleful passion didst exclude, | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Filling the dedicated solitude | 10 | /˘·/˘˘˘/˘· |
| With God; and where His Spirit deigns to dwell, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Though the worn frame in fetters withering lie, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| There throned in peace divine is liberty! | 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.