Macgregor
Not all the spells of the magician's art,Not potent herbs, nor travel o'er the main,But those sweet eyes alone can soothe my pain,And they which struck the blow must heal the smart;Those eyes from meaner love have kept my heart,Content one single image to retain,And censure but the medium wild and vain,If ill my words their honey'd sense impart;These are those beauteous eyes which never failTo prove Love's conquest, wheresoe'er they shine,Although my breast hath oftenest felt their fire;These are those beauteous eyes which still assailAnd penetrate my soul with sparks divine,So that of singing them I cannot tire.
Words in this poem
- soothe v. t.
- To assent to as true. Testament of Love. [Originally, to assent to as true; OE. so to verify, AS. ges to prove the truth of, to bear witness. See Sooth, a.]
- beauteous a.
- Full of beauty; beautiful; very handsome. [Mostly poetic] -- Beau"te*ous*ly, adv. --
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
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, Macgregor, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/macgregor-10.html, id L14573.
Form and metre
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 88%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 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 artA · mainB · painB · smartA · heartA · retainB · vainB · impartA · failC · shineD · fireC · assailD · divineC · tireD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Not all the spells of the magician's art, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Not potent herbs, nor travel o'er the main, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| But those sweet eyes alone can soothe my pain, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| And they which struck the blow must heal the smart; | 10 | ·········· |
| Those eyes from meaner love have kept my heart, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Content one single image to retain, | 10 | ˘/·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| And censure but the medium wild and vain, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| If ill my words their honey'd sense impart; | 10 | ········˘/ |
| These are those beauteous eyes which never fail | 10 | ···/˘˘··/· |
| To prove Love's conquest, wheresoe'er they shine, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Although my breast hath oftenest felt their fire; | 10 | ·····/˘··/ |
| These are those beauteous eyes which still assail | 11 | ···/˘˘···˘/ |
| And penetrate my soul with sparks divine, | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| So that of singing them I cannot tire. | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
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.