On Rome in the Pontificate of Julius II
Here helms and swords are made of chalices:The blood of Christ is sold so much the quart:His cross and thorns are spears and shields; and shortMust be the time ere even his patience cease.Nay let him come no more to raise the feesOf this foul sacrilege beyond report!For Rome still flays and sells him at the court,Where paths are closed to virtue's fair increase.Now were fit time for me to scrape a treasure!Seeing that work and gain are gone; while heWho wears the robe, is my Medusa still.God welcomes poverty perchance with pleasure:But of that better life what hope have we,When the blessed banner leads to nought but ill?
About this text
On Rome in the Pontificate of Julius II 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, On Rome in the Pontificate of Julius II, in Sonnets (1878), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10314, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/michelangelo-sonnets/on-rome-in-the-pontificate-of-julius-ii.html, id L15146.
Form and metre
On Rome in the Pontificate of Julius II is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBCABBCDEFDEF. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 3 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 ABBCABBCDEFDEF chalicesA · quartB · shortB · ceaseC · feesA · reportB · courtB · increaseC · treasureD · heE · stillF · pleasureD · weE · illF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Here helms and swords are made of chalices: | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| The blood of Christ is sold so much the quart: | 10 | ·········· |
| His cross and thorns are spears and shields; and short | 10 | ·········· |
| Must be the time ere even his patience cease. | 10 | ·····/·/˘· |
| Nay let him come no more to raise the fees | 10 | ·········· |
| Of this foul sacrilege beyond report! | 10 | ···/˘˘··˘/ |
| For Rome still flays and sells him at the court, | 10 | ·········· |
| Where paths are closed to virtue's fair increase. | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Now were fit time for me to scrape a treasure! | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Seeing that work and gain are gone; while he | 10 | /˘········ |
| Who wears the robe, is my Medusa still. | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| God welcomes poverty perchance with pleasure: | 11 | ·/˘/˘˘˘/·/˘ |
| But of that better life what hope have we, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| When the blessed banner leads to nought but ill? | 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.