He Awakes to a Conviction of the Near Approach of Death (Macgregor)
The mirror'd friend--my changing form hath read.My every power's incipient decay--My wearied soul--alike, in warning say"Thyself no more deceive, thy youth hath fled."'Tis ever best to be by Nature led,We strive with her, and Death makes us his prey;At that dread thought, as flames the waters stay,The dream is gone my life hath sadly fed.I wake to feel how soon existence flies:Once known, 'tis gone, and never to return.Still vibrates in my heart the thrilling toneOf her, who now her beauteous shrine defies:But she, who here to rival, none could learn,Hath robb'd her sex, and with its fame hath flown.
Words in this poem
- sadly adv.
- Wearily; heavily; firmly.
- thrilling a.
- Causing a thrill; causing tremulous excitement; deeply moving; as, a thrilling romance.
- beauteous a.
- Full of beauty; beautiful; very handsome. [Mostly poetic] -- Beau"te*ous*ly, adv. --
- flown a.
- Flushed, inflated.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
He Awakes to a Conviction of the Near Approach of Death (Macgregor) 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, He Awakes to a Conviction of the Near Approach of Death (Macgregor), in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/he-awakes-to-a-conviction-of-the-near-approach-of-death-macgregor.html, id L14986.
Form and metre
He Awakes to a Conviction of the Near Approach of Death (Macgregor) 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 92%).
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 readA · decayB · sayB · fledA · ledA · preyB · stayB · fedA · fliesC · returnD · toneC · defiesD · learnC · flownD
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 mirror'd friend--my changing form hath read. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| My every power's incipient decay-- | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘˘˘/ |
| My wearied soul--alike, in warning say | 10 | ·/˘·˘/·/˘· |
| "Thyself no more deceive, thy youth hath fled." | 10 | ˘/··˘/···· |
| 'Tis ever best to be by Nature led, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| We strive with her, and Death makes us his prey; | 10 | ·········· |
| At that dread thought, as flames the waters stay, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The dream is gone my life hath sadly fed. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| I wake to feel how soon existence flies: | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Once known, 'tis gone, and never to return. | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Still vibrates in my heart the thrilling tone | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Of her, who now her beauteous shrine defies: | 11 | ·····/˘˘·˘/ |
| But she, who here to rival, none could learn, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Hath robb'd her sex, and with its fame hath flown. | 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.