From the Portuguese of Antonio De Ferreiro
That blessed sunlight that once showed to meMy way to heaven more plain more certainly,And with her bright beam banished utterlyAll trace of mortal sorrow far from me,Has gone from me, has left her prison sad,And I am blind and alone and gone astray,Like a lost pilgrim in a desert wayWanting the blessed guide that once he had.
Thus with a spirit bowed and mind a blurI trace the holy steps where she has gone,By valleys and by meadows and by mountains,And everywhere I catch a glimpse of her.She takes me by the hand and leads me on,And my eyes follow her, my eyes made fountains.
About this text
From the Portuguese of Antonio De Ferreiro is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Story of a Round-House, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #40717; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Masefield, From the Portuguese of Antonio De Ferreiro, in The Story of a Round-House, and Other Poems (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #40717, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/masefield-round-house/from-the-portuguese-of-antonio-de-ferreiro.html, id L24987.
Form and metre
From the Portuguese of Antonio De Ferreiro is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
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 A--ABCCB meA · certainly · utterly · meA · sadB · astrayC · wayC · hadB
- 2 ABCABC blurA · goneB · mountainsC · herA · onB · fountainsC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| That blessed sunlight that once showed to me | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| My way to heaven more plain more certainly, | 11 | ···/˘···/˘˘ |
| And with her bright beam banished utterly | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
| All trace of mortal sorrow far from me, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Has gone from me, has left her prison sad, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And I am blind and alone and gone astray, | 11 | ·····˘/··˘/ |
| Like a lost pilgrim in a desert way | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Wanting the blessed guide that once he had. | 10 | /˘··˘····· |
| Thus with a spirit bowed and mind a blur | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| I trace the holy steps where she has gone, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| By valleys and by meadows and by mountains, | 11 | ·/˘··/···/˘ |
| And everywhere I catch a glimpse of her. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| She takes me by the hand and leads me on, | 10 | ·········· |
| And my eyes follow her, my eyes made fountains. | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
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.