Macgregor
P. What act, what dream, absorbs thee, O my soul?Say, must we peace, a truce, or warfare hail?H. Our fate I know not; but her eyes unveilThe grief our woe doth in her heart enrol.P. But that is vain, since by her eyes' controlWith nature I no sympathy inhale.H. Yet guiltless she, for Love doth there prevail.P. No balm to me, since she will not condole.H. When man is mute, how oft the spirit grieves,In clamorous woe! how oft the sparkling eyeBelies the inward tear, where none can gaze!P. Yet restless still, the grief the mind conceivesIs not dispell'd, but stagnant seems to lie.The wretched hope not, though hope aid might raise.
Words in this poem
- unveil v. t.
- To remove a veil from; to divest of a veil; to uncover; to disclose to view; to reveal; as, she unveiled her face. [1st pref. un- + veil.]
- guiltless a.
- Free from guilt; innocent.
- condole v. i.
- To express sympathetic sorrow; to grieve in sympathy; -- followed by with. [L. condolere; con- + dolere to feel pain, grieve. See Doleful.]
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-14.html, id L14673.
Form and metre
Macgregor is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAABBACDCDCD, the pattern of the Italian sonnet. The metre is iambic hexameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.5 syllables. 29% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other Italian sonnets, other poems in iambic hexameter.
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 soulA · hailB · unveilB · enrolA · controlA · inhaleB · prevailB · condoleA · grievesC · eyeD · gazeC · conceivesD · lieC · raiseD
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 hexameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| P. What act, what dream, absorbs thee, O my soul? | 11 | ·····˘/···· |
| Say, must we peace, a truce, or warfare hail? | 10 | ·······/·· |
| H. Our fate I know not; but her eyes unveil | 11 | ·/·······˘/ |
| The grief our woe doth in her heart enrol. | 10 | ··/······· |
| P. But that is vain, since by her eyes' control | 11 | ·········˘/ |
| With nature I no sympathy inhale. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘˘/ |
| H. Yet guiltless she, for Love doth there prevail. | 11 | ··/˘·····˘/ |
| P. No balm to me, since she will not condole. | 11 | ·········˘/ |
| H. When man is mute, how oft the spirit grieves, | 10 | ········/· |
| In clamorous woe! how oft the sparkling eye | 11 | ·/˘˘····/˘· |
| Belies the inward tear, where none can gaze! | 10 | ˘/·/˘····· |
| P. Yet restless still, the grief the mind conceives | 11 | ··/˘·····˘/ |
| Is not dispell'd, but stagnant seems to lie. | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| The wretched hope not, though hope aid might raise. | 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.