The Samaritan
From Rome to Ostia a poor man went;Thieves robbed and wounded him upon the way;Some monks, great saints, observed him where he lay,And left him, on their breviaries intent.A Bishop passed thereby, and careless bentTo sign the cross, a blessing brief to say;But a great Cardinal, to clutch their prey,Followed the thieves, falsely benevolent.At last there came a German Lutheran,Who builds on faith, merit of works withstands;He raised and clothed and healed the dying man.Now which of these was worthiest, most humane?The heart is better than the head, kind handsThan cold lip-service; faith without works is vain.Who understandsWhat creed is good and true for self and others?--But none can doubt the good he doth his brothers.
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- humane a.
- Pertaining to man; human. Jer. Taylor. [L. humanus: cf. F. humain. See Human.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Samaritan 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 Samaritan, in Sonnets (1878), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10314, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/michelangelo-sonnets/the-samaritan.html, id L15251.
Form and metre
The Samaritan is 17 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAABBACDCEDEDFF. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.8 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 18% 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 ABBAABBACDCEDEDFF wentA · wayB · layB · intentA · bentA · sayB · preyB · benevolentA · lutheranC · withstandsD · manC · humaneE · handsD · vainE · understandsD · othersF · brothersF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| From Rome to Ostia a poor man went; | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| Thieves robbed and wounded him upon the way; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Some monks, great saints, observed him where he lay, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| And left him, on their breviaries intent. | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| A Bishop passed thereby, and careless bent | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| To sign the cross, a blessing brief to say; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| But a great Cardinal, to clutch their prey, | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| Followed the thieves, falsely benevolent. | 10 | /˘··/˘˘/˘˘ |
| At last there came a German Lutheran, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
| Who builds on faith, merit of works withstands; | 10 | ····/˘··˘/ |
| He raised and clothed and healed the dying man. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Now which of these was worthiest, most humane? | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| The heart is better than the head, kind hands | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Than cold lip-service; faith without works is vain. | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| Who understands | 4 | ··˘/ |
| What creed is good and true for self and others?-- | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| But none can doubt the good he doth his brothers. | 11 | ·········/˘ |
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.