Love's Dilemma
I deemed upon that day when first I knewSo many peerless beauties blent in one,That, like an eagle gazing on the sun,Mine eyes might fix on the least part of you.That dream hath vanished, and my hope is flown;For he who fain a seraph would pursueWingless, hath cast words to the winds, and dewOn stones, and gauged God's reason with his own.If then my heart cannot endure the blazeOf beauties infinite that blind these eyes,Nor yet can bear to be from you divided,What fate is mine? Who guides or guards my ways,Seeing my soul, so lost and ill-betided,Burns in your presence, in your absence dies?
Words in this poem
- blent p. p.
- Blinded. Also (Chaucer), 3d sing. pres. Blindeth.
- flown a.
- Flushed, inflated.
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- gauged p. a.
- Tested or measured by, or conformed to, a gauge. Gauged brick, brick molded, rubbed, or cut to an exact size and shape, for arches or ornamental work.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Love's Dilemma 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, Love's Dilemma, in Sonnets (1878), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10314, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/michelangelo-sonnets/love-s-dilemma.html, id L15171.
Form and metre
Love's Dilemma is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 29% 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 ABBACAACDE-D-E knewA · oneB · sunB · youA · flownC · pursueA · dewA · ownC · blazeD · eyesE · divided · waysD · betided · diesE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I deemed upon that day when first I knew | 10 | ·········· |
| So many peerless beauties blent in one, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| That, like an eagle gazing on the sun, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Mine eyes might fix on the least part of you. | 10 | ·········· |
| That dream hath vanished, and my hope is flown; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| For he who fain a seraph would pursue | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Wingless, hath cast words to the winds, and dew | 10 | /˘········ |
| On stones, and gauged God's reason with his own. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| If then my heart cannot endure the blaze | 10 | ····˘/˘/·· |
| Of beauties infinite that blind these eyes, | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘···· |
| Nor yet can bear to be from you divided, | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| What fate is mine? Who guides or guards my ways, | 10 | ·········· |
| Seeing my soul, so lost and ill-betided, | 11 | /˘······˘/˘ |
| Burns in your presence, in your absence dies? | 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.