To Telesius of Cosenza
Telesius, the arrow from thy bowMidmost his band of sophists slays that highTyrant of souls that think; he cannot fly:While Truth soars free, loosed by the self-same blow.Proud lyres with thine immortal praises glow,Smitten by bards elate with victory:Lo, thine own Cavalcante, stormfullyLightning, still strikes the fortress of the foe!Good Gaieta bedecks our saint sereneWith robes translucent, light-irradiate,Restoring her to all her natural sheen;The while my tocsin at the temple-gateOf the wide universe proclaims her queen,Pythia of first and last ordained by fate.
Words in this poem
- midmost a.
- Middle; middlemost. [OE. middemiste. Cf. Foremost.]
- elate a.
- Lifted up; raised; elevated. [L. elatus elevated, fig., elated, proud (the figure, perh., being borrowed from a prancing horse); e out + latus (used as p. p. of ferre to bear), for tlatus, a]
- sheen v. i.
- To shine; to glisten.
- tocsin n.
- An alarm bell, or the ringing of a bell for the purpose of alarm. [F., fr. OF. toquier to touch, F. toquer (originally, a dialectic form of F. toucher) + seint (for sein) a bell, LL. signum, fr. L. signum a sign, signal. See To]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Telesius of Cosenza 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 Telesius of Cosenza, in Sonnets (1878), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10314, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/michelangelo-sonnets/to-telesius-of-cosenza.html, id L15272.
Form and metre
To Telesius of Cosenza is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 87% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 36% 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 ABBAA--ACDCDCD bowA · highB · flyB · blowA · glowA · victory · stormfully · foeA · sereneC · irradiateD · sheenC · gateD · queenC · fateD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Telesius, the arrow from thy bow | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| Midmost his band of sophists slays that high | 10 | /˘········ |
| Tyrant of souls that think; he cannot fly: | 10 | /˘·····˘/· |
| While Truth soars free, loosed by the self-same blow. | 10 | ·········· |
| Proud lyres with thine immortal praises glow, | 10 | ····˘/˘/˘· |
| Smitten by bards elate with victory: | 10 | /˘··˘/·/˘˘ |
| Lo, thine own Cavalcante, stormfully | 9 | ········· |
| Lightning, still strikes the fortress of the foe! | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Good Gaieta bedecks our saint serene | 10 | ···˘//˘·˘/ |
| With robes translucent, light-irradiate, | 10 | ··˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| Restoring her to all her natural sheen; | 10 | ˘/˘····/˘· |
| The while my tocsin at the temple-gate | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Of the wide universe proclaims her queen, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| Pythia of first and last ordained by fate. | 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.