Love the Light-Giver
With your fair eyes a charming light I see,For which my own blind eyes would peer in vain;Stayed by your feet the burden I sustainWhich my lame feet find all too strong for me;Wingless upon your pinions forth I fly;Heavenward your spirit stirreth me to strain;E'en as you will, I blush and blanch again,Freeze in the sun, burn 'neath a frosty sky.Your will includes and is the lord of mine;Life to my thoughts within your heart is given;My words begin to breathe upon your breath:Like to the moon am I, that cannot shineAlone; for lo! our eyes see nought in heavenSave what the living sun illumineth.
Words in this poem
- stayed a.
- Staid; fixed; settled; sober; -- now written staid. See Staid.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Love the Light-Giver 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 the Light-Giver, in Sonnets (1878), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10314, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/michelangelo-sonnets/love-the-light-giver.html, id L15172.
Form and metre
Love the Light-Giver is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBACBBCDBEDDE. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 91% 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. 21% 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 ABBACBBCDBEDDE seeA · vainB · sustainB · meA · flyC · strainB · againB · skyC · mineD · givenB · breathE · shineD · heavenD · illuminethE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| With your fair eyes a charming light I see, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| For which my own blind eyes would peer in vain; | 10 | ·········· |
| Stayed by your feet the burden I sustain | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Which my lame feet find all too strong for me; | 10 | ·········· |
| Wingless upon your pinions forth I fly; | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Heavenward your spirit stirreth me to strain; | 10 | /˘˘·//˘··· |
| E'en as you will, I blush and blanch again, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Freeze in the sun, burn 'neath a frosty sky. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Your will includes and is the lord of mine; | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Life to my thoughts within your heart is given; | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| My words begin to breathe upon your breath: | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Like to the moon am I, that cannot shine | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Alone; for lo! our eyes see nought in heaven | 11 | ˘/··/····/˘ |
| Save what the living sun illumineth. | 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.