To Venice
New Ark of Noah! when the cruel scourgeOf that barbarian tyrant like a waveWent over Italy, thou then didst saveThe seed of just men on the weltering surge.Here, still by discord and foul servitudeUntainted, thou a hero brood dost raise,Powerful and prudent. Due to thee their praiseOf maiden pure, of teeming motherhood!Thou wonder of the world, Rome's loyal heir,Thou pride and strong support of Italy,Dial of princes, school of all things wise!Thou like Arcturus steadfast in the skies,With tardy sense guidest thy kingdom fair,Bearing alone the load of liberty.
Words in this poem
- scourge n.
- A lash; a strap or cord; especially, a lash used to inflict pain or punishment; an instrument of punishment or discipline; a whip. [F. escourgée, fr. L. excoriata (sc. scutica) a stripped off (lash or whip), fr. excoriate to strip, to skin. See Excoriate.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- teeming a.
- Prolific; productive.
- motherhood n.
- The state of being a mother; the character or office of a mother.
- arcturus n.
- A fixed star of the first magnitude in the constellation Boötes. [L. Arcturus, Gr. Arctic.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Venice 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 Venice, in Sonnets (1878), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10314, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/michelangelo-sonnets/to-venice.html, id L15247.
Form and metre
To Venice is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 84% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 2 lines end 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 ABBA-CC-D-EED- scourgeA · waveB · saveB · surgeA · servitude · raiseC · praiseC · motherhood · heirD · italy · wiseE · skiesE · fairD · liberty
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 |
|---|---|---|
| New Ark of Noah! when the cruel scourge | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Of that barbarian tyrant like a wave | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| Went over Italy, thou then didst save | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| The seed of just men on the weltering surge. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Here, still by discord and foul servitude | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Untainted, thou a hero brood dost raise, | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘··· |
| Powerful and prudent. Due to thee their praise | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Of maiden pure, of teeming motherhood! | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Thou wonder of the world, Rome's loyal heir, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Thou pride and strong support of Italy, | 10 | ····˘/·/˘˘ |
| Dial of princes, school of all things wise! | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Thou like Arcturus steadfast in the skies, | 10 | ···/˘/···· |
| With tardy sense guidest thy kingdom fair, | 10 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘· |
| Bearing alone the load of liberty. | 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.