To Genoa
The nymphs of Arno; Adria's goddess-queen;Greece, where the Latin banner floated free;The lands that border on the Syrian sea;The Euxine, and fair Naples; these have beenThine, by the right of conquest; these should beStill thine by empire: Asia's broad demesne,Afric, America--realms never seenBut by thy venture--all belong to thee.But thou, thyself not knowing, leavest allFor a poor price to strangers; since thy headIs weak, albeit thy limbs are stout and good.Genoa, mistress of the world, recallThy soul magnanimous! Nay, be not ledSlave to base gold, thou and thy tameless brood!
Words in this poem
- albeit conj.
- Even though; although; notwithstanding. [OE. al be although it be, where al is our all. Cf. Although.]
- tameless a.
- Incapable of being tamed; wild; untamed; untamable. Bp. Hall.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Genoa 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, To Genoa, in Sonnets (1878), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10314, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/michelangelo-sonnets/to-genoa.html, id L15248.
Form and metre
To Genoa is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 50% 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 ABB-B-ABCD-CD- queenA · freeB · seaB · been · beB · demesne · seenA · theeB · allC · headD · good · recallC · ledD · brood
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The nymphs of Arno; Adria's goddess-queen; | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| Greece, where the Latin banner floated free; | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| The lands that border on the Syrian sea; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| The Euxine, and fair Naples; these have been | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Thine, by the right of conquest; these should be | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Still thine by empire: Asia's broad demesne, | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Afric, America--realms never seen | 10 | /˘˘/˘˘·/˘· |
| But by thy venture--all belong to thee. | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| But thou, thyself not knowing, leavest all | 10 | ··˘/·/˘/˘· |
| For a poor price to strangers; since thy head | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Is weak, albeit thy limbs are stout and good. | 11 | ··˘/˘······ |
| Genoa, mistress of the world, recall | 10 | /˘˘/˘···˘/ |
| Thy soul magnanimous! Nay, be not led | 10 | ··˘/˘˘···· |
| Slave to base gold, thou and thy tameless brood! | 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.