After the Death of Cecchino Bracci
Scarce had I seen for the first time his eyesWhich to your living eyes were life and light,When closed at last in death's injurious nightHe opened them on God in Paradise.I know it and I weep, too late made wise:Yet was the fault not mine; for death's fell spiteRobbed my desire of that supreme delight,Which in your better memory never dies.Therefore, Luigi, if the task be mineTo make unique Cecchino smile in stoneFor ever, now that earth hath made him dim,If the beloved within the lover shine,Since art without him cannot work alone,You must I carve to tell the world of him.
Words in this poem
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- 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
After the Death of Cecchino Bracci 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, After the Death of Cecchino Bracci, in Sonnets (1878), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10314, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/michelangelo-sonnets/after-the-death-of-cecchino-bracci.html, id L15150.
Form and metre
After the Death of Cecchino Bracci is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 36% 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 ABB-ABBACDECDE eyesA · lightB · nightB · paradise · wiseA · spiteB · delightB · diesA · mineC · stoneD · dimE · shineC · aloneD · himE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Scarce had I seen for the first time his eyes | 10 | ·········· |
| Which to your living eyes were life and light, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| When closed at last in death's injurious night | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| He opened them on God in Paradise. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| I know it and I weep, too late made wise: | 10 | ·········· |
| Yet was the fault not mine; for death's fell spite | 10 | ·········· |
| Robbed my desire of that supreme delight, | 10 | ··˘/··˘/˘/ |
| Which in your better memory never dies. | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘/· |
| Therefore, Luigi, if the task be mine | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| To make unique Cecchino smile in stone | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| For ever, now that earth hath made him dim, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| If the beloved within the lover shine, | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| Since art without him cannot work alone, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| You must I carve to tell the world of him. | 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.