A Prayer for Aid
Oh, make me see Thee, Lord, where'er I go!If mortal beauty sets my soul on fire,That flame when near to Thine must needs expire,And I with love of only Thee shall glow.Dear Lord, Thy help I seek against this woe,These torments that my spirit vex and tire;Thou only with new strength canst re-inspireMy will, my sense, my courage faint and low.Thou gavest me on earth this soul divine;And Thou within this body weak and frailDidst prison it--how sadly there to live!How can I make its lot less vile than mine?Without Thee, Lord, all goodness seems to fail.To alter fate is God's prerogative.
Words in this poem
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- sadly adv.
- Wearily; heavily; firmly.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Prayer for Aid is in the public domain. This text is taken from Sonnets, Project Gutenberg ebook #10314, the John Addington Symonds 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: Michelangelo Buonarroti, A Prayer for Aid, in Sonnets (1878), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10314, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/michelangelo-sonnets/a-prayer-for-aid.html, id L15214.
Form and metre
A Prayer for Aid is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAABBACDECDE, the pattern of the Italian sonnet. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 96% 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. 14% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other Italian sonnets, 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 ABBAABBACDECDE goA · fireB · expireB · glowA · woeA · tireB · inspireB · lowA · divineC · frailD · liveE · mineC · failD · prerogativeE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Oh, make me see Thee, Lord, where'er I go! | 11 | ······˘˘/·· |
| If mortal beauty sets my soul on fire, | 11 | ·/˘/˘····/˘ |
| That flame when near to Thine must needs expire, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| And I with love of only Thee shall glow. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Dear Lord, Thy help I seek against this woe, | 10 | ·········· |
| These torments that my spirit vex and tire; | 11 | ·/···/˘··/˘ |
| Thou only with new strength canst re-inspire | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| My will, my sense, my courage faint and low. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Thou gavest me on earth this soul divine; | 10 | ········˘/ |
| And Thou within this body weak and frail | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Didst prison it--how sadly there to live! | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| How can I make its lot less vile than mine? | 10 | ·········· |
| Without Thee, Lord, all goodness seems to fail. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| To alter fate is God's prerogative. | 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.