At the Foot of the Cross
Freed from a burden sore and grievous band,Dear Lord, and from this wearying world untied,Like a frail bark I turn me to Thy side,As from a fierce storm to a tranquil land.Thy thorns, Thy nails, and either bleeding hand,With Thy mild gentle piteous face, providePromise of help and mercies multiplied,And hope that yet my soul secure may stand.Let not Thy holy eyes be just to seeMy evil past, Thy chastened ears to hearAnd stretch the arm of judgment to my crime:Let Thy blood only lave and succour me,Yielding more perfect pardon, better cheer,As older still I grow with lengthening time.
Words in this poem
- chastened a.
- Corrected; disciplined; refined; purified; toned down. Sir. W.
- lave v. t.
- To lade, dip, or pour out. [OE. laven. See Lavish.]
- succour v. t.
- tiono run to, or run to support; hence, to help or relieve when in difficulty, want, or distress; to assist and deliver from suffering; to relieve; as, to succor a besieged city. [OE. socouren, OF. sucurre, soucourre, secorre, F. secourir, L. succurrere, succursum, to run under, run to the aid of, help, succor; sub under + currere to run.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
At the Foot of the Cross 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, At the Foot of the Cross, in Sonnets (1878), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10314, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/michelangelo-sonnets/at-the-foot-of-the-cross.html, id L15215.
Form and metre
At the Foot of the Cross 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 85%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 21% 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 bandA · untiedB · sideB · landA · handA · provideB · multipliedB · standA · seeC · hearD · crimeE · meC · cheerD · timeE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Freed from a burden sore and grievous band, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Dear Lord, and from this wearying world untied, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Like a frail bark I turn me to Thy side, | 10 | ·········· |
| As from a fierce storm to a tranquil land. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Thy thorns, Thy nails, and either bleeding hand, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| With Thy mild gentle piteous face, provide | 11 | ···/˘/˘˘·˘/ |
| Promise of help and mercies multiplied, | 10 | /˘···/˘/˘· |
| And hope that yet my soul secure may stand. | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Let not Thy holy eyes be just to see | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| My evil past, Thy chastened ears to hear | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| And stretch the arm of judgment to my crime: | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Let Thy blood only lave and succour me, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Yielding more perfect pardon, better cheer, | 10 | /˘·/·/˘/˘· |
| As older still I grow with lengthening time. | 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.