The Present
Black robes befit our age. Once they were white;Next many-hued; now dark as Afric's Moor,Night-black, infernal, traitorous, obscure,Horrid with ignorance and sick with fright.For very shame we shun all colours bright,Who mourn our end--the tyrants we endure,The chains, the noose, the lead, the snares, the lure--Our dismal heroes, our souls sunk in night.Black weeds again denote that extreme follyWhich makes us blind, mournful, and woe-begone:For dusk is dear to doleful melancholy;Nathless fate's wheel still turns: this raiment dunWe shall exchange hereafter for the holyGarments of white in which of yore we shone.
Words in this poem
- horrid a.
- Rough; rugged; bristling. [L. horridus. See Horror, and cf. Ordure.]
- dismal a.
- Fatal; ill-omened; unlucky. [Formerly a noun; e. g., "I trow it was in the dismalle." Chaucer. Of uncertain origin; but perh. (as suggested by Skeat) from OF. disme, F. dîme, tithe, the phr]
- nathless adv.
- Nevertheless. Chaucer. Milton. E. Arnold. [OE. natheles, na the les, not the less, AS. na never. See Na, The, conj., and cf. Nevertheless.]
- 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,]
- hereafter adv.
- In time to come; in some future time or state. [AS. hræfter.]
- yore adv.
- In time long past; in old time; long since. [OE. , yare, , AS. geára;akin to geár a year, E. year. Year.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Present 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, The Present, in Sonnets (1878), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10314, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/michelangelo-sonnets/the-present.html, id L15260.
Form and metre
The Present is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 82% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 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 ABBAABBAC-C--- whiteA · moorB · obscureB · frightA · brightA · endureB · lureB · nightA · follyC · begone · melancholyC · dun · holy · shone
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Black robes befit our age. Once they were white; | 10 | ··˘//····· |
| Next many-hued; now dark as Afric's Moor, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Night-black, infernal, traitorous, obscure, | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘˘˘/ |
| Horrid with ignorance and sick with fright. | 10 | /˘·/˘˘···· |
| For very shame we shun all colours bright, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Who mourn our end--the tyrants we endure, | 10 | ··/··/˘·˘/ |
| The chains, the noose, the lead, the snares, the lure-- | 10 | ·········· |
| Our dismal heroes, our souls sunk in night. | 10 | //˘/˘/···· |
| Black weeds again denote that extreme folly | 11 | ··˘/˘/·˘//˘ |
| Which makes us blind, mournful, and woe-begone: | 10 | ····/˘··˘/ |
| For dusk is dear to doleful melancholy; | 11 | ·····/˘/˘·˘ |
| Nathless fate's wheel still turns: this raiment dun | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| We shall exchange hereafter for the holy | 11 | ··˘/˘/˘··/˘ |
| Garments of white in which of yore we shone. | 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.