Amor Redivivus
That thy great beauty on our earth may beShrined in a lady softer and more kind,I call on nature to collect and bindAll those delights the slow years steal from thee,And save them to restore the radiancyOf thy bright face in some fair form designedBy heaven; and may Love ever bear in mindTo mould her heart of grace and courtesy.I call on nature too to keep my sighs,My scattered tears to take and recombine,And give to him who loves that fair again:More happy he perchance shall move those eyesTo mercy by the griefs wherewith I pine,Nor lose the kindness that from me is ta'en!
Words in this poem
- radiancy n.
- The quality of being radiant; brilliancy; effulgence; vivid brightness; as, the radiance of the sun.
- mould n.
- Crumbling, soft, friable earth; esp., earth containing the remains or constituents of organic matter, and suited to the growth of plants; soil. [OE. molde, AS. molde; akin to D. mul, G. mull, mulm, OHG. molt, molta, Icel. mold, Dan. muld, Sw. mull, Goth. mulda, and E. meal flour. See Meal, and cf. Mole a]
- recombine v. t.
- To combine again.
- 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,]
- wherewith adv.
- With which; -- used relatively.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Amor Redivivus 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, Amor Redivivus, in Sonnets (1878), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10314, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/michelangelo-sonnets/amor-redivivus.html, id L18602.
Form and metre
Amor Redivivus is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 43% 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 ABBA-BB-CD-CD- beA · kindB · bindB · theeA · radiancy · designedB · mindB · courtesy · sighsC · recombineD · again · eyesC · pineD · ta'en
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 thy great beauty on our earth may be | 10 | ···/˘·/··· |
| Shrined in a lady softer and more kind, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| I call on nature to collect and bind | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| All those delights the slow years steal from thee, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| And save them to restore the radiancy | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Of thy bright face in some fair form designed | 10 | ········˘/ |
| By heaven; and may Love ever bear in mind | 10 | ·/···/˘··· |
| To mould her heart of grace and courtesy. | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| I call on nature too to keep my sighs, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| My scattered tears to take and recombine, | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| And give to him who loves that fair again: | 10 | ········˘/ |
| More happy he perchance shall move those eyes | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| To mercy by the griefs wherewith I pine, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| Nor lose the kindness that from me is ta'en! | 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.