Anon
Intemperance, slumber, and the slothful downHave chased each virtue from this world away;Hence is our nature nearly led astrayFrom its due course, by habitude o'erthrown;Those kindly lights of heaven so dim are grown,Which shed o'er human life instruction's ray;That him with scornful wonder they survey,Who would draw forth the stream of Helicon."Whom doth the laurel please, or myrtle now?Naked and poor, Philosophy, art thou!"The worthless crowd, intent on lucre, cries.Few on thy chosen road will thee attend;Yet let it more incite thee, gentle friend,To prosecute thy high-conceived emprize.
Words in this poem
- habitude n.
- Habitual attitude; usual or accustomed state with reference to something else; established or usual relations. South. [F., fr. L. habitudo condition. See Habit.]
- helicon n.
- A mountain in Boeotia, in Greece, supposed by the Greeks to be the residence of Apollo and the Muses.
- lucre n.
- Gain in money or goods; profit; riches; -- often in an ill sense. [F. lucre, L. lucrum.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Anon is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, the various hands 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: Petrarch, Anon, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/anon.html, id L14472.
Form and metre
Anon is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAABBACDCDCD, the pattern of the Italian sonnet. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 14% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other Italian sonnets, 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 ABBAABBACDCDCD downA · awayB · astrayB · o'erthrownA · grownA · rayB · surveyB · heliconA · nowC · thouD · criesC · attendD · friendC · emprizeD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Intemperance, slumber, and the slothful down | 11 | ˘/˘˘/˘··/˘· |
| Have chased each virtue from this world away; | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Hence is our nature nearly led astray | 10 | ··//˘/˘·˘/ |
| From its due course, by habitude o'erthrown; | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| Those kindly lights of heaven so dim are grown, | 10 | ·/˘··/···· |
| Which shed o'er human life instruction's ray; | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| That him with scornful wonder they survey, | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Who would draw forth the stream of Helicon. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| "Whom doth the laurel please, or myrtle now? | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Naked and poor, Philosophy, art thou!" | 10 | /˘··˘/˘˘·· |
| The worthless crowd, intent on lucre, cries. | 10 | ·/˘·˘/·/˘· |
| Few on thy chosen road will thee attend; | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Yet let it more incite thee, gentle friend, | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| To prosecute thy high-conceived emprize. | 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.