The Resurrection
If Christ was only six hours crucifiedAfter few years of toil and misery,Which for mankind He suffered willingly,While heaven was won for ever when He died;Why should He still be shown on every side,Painted and preached, in nought but agony,Whose pains were light matched with His victory,When the world's power to harm Him was defied?Why rather speak and write not of the realmHe rules in heaven, and soon will bring belowUnto the praise and glory of His name?Ah foolish crowd! This world's thick vapours whelmYour eyes unworthy of that glorious show,Blind to His splendour, bent upon His shame.
Words in this poem
- willingly adv.
- In a willing manner; with free will; without reluctance; cheerfully.
- whelm v. t.
- To cover with water or other fluid; to cover by immersion in something that envelops on all sides; to overwhelm; to ingulf.
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
- splendour n.
- Great brightness; brilliant luster; brilliancy; as, the splendor ot the sun. B. Jonson. [L. fr. splendere to shine: cf. F. splendeur.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Resurrection 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 Resurrection, in Sonnets (1878), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10314, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/michelangelo-sonnets/the-resurrection.html, id L15239.
Form and metre
The Resurrection is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%). 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 4 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 A--AA--ABCDBCD crucifiedA · misery · willingly · diedA · sideA · agony · victory · defiedA · realmB · belowC · nameD · whelmB · showC · shameD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| If Christ was only six hours crucified | 10 | ···/˘·//˘· |
| After few years of toil and misery, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Which for mankind He suffered willingly, | 10 | ··//·/˘/˘˘ |
| While heaven was won for ever when He died; | 10 | ·/···/˘··· |
| Why should He still be shown on every side, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Painted and preached, in nought but agony, | 10 | /˘·····/˘˘ |
| Whose pains were light matched with His victory, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| When the world's power to harm Him was defied? | 10 | ···/····˘/ |
| Why rather speak and write not of the realm | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| He rules in heaven, and soon will bring below | 10 | ···/······ |
| Unto the praise and glory of His name? | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Ah foolish crowd! This world's thick vapours whelm | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Your eyes unworthy of that glorious show, | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Blind to His splendour, bent upon His shame. | 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.