Macgregor
Those gentle hills which hold my spirit still(For though I fly, my heart there must remain),Are e'er before me, whilst my burthen's pain,By love bestow'd, I bear with patient will.I marvel oft that I can yet fulfilThat yoke's sweet duties, which my soul enchain,I seek release, but find the effort vain;The more I fly, the nearer seems my ill.So, like the stag, who, wounded by the dart,Its poison'd iron rankling in his side,Flies swifter at each quickening anguish'd throb,--I feel the fatal arrow at my heart;Yet with its poison, joy awakes its tide;My flight exhausts me--grief my life doth rob!
Words in this poem
- enchain v. t.
- To bind with a chain; to hold in chains. [F. enchaîner; pref. en- (L. in) chaîne chain. See Chain, and cf. Incatenation.]
- swifter v. t.
- To tighten, as slack standing rigging, by bringing the opposite shrouds nearer.
- quickening n.
- The act or process of making or of becoming quick.
- throb v. i.
- To beat, or pulsate, with more than usual force or rapidity; to beat in consequence of agitation; to palpitate; -- said of the heart, pulse, etc. [OE. ; of uncertain origin; cf. Russ. trepete a trembling, and E. trepidation.]
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-20.html, id L14760.
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 94%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 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 stillA · remainB · painB · willA · fulfilA · enchainB · vainB · illA · dartC · sideD · throbC · heartD · tideC · robD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Those gentle hills which hold my spirit still | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| (For though I fly, my heart there must remain), | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Are e'er before me, whilst my burthen's pain, | 10 | ·········· |
| By love bestow'd, I bear with patient will. | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| I marvel oft that I can yet fulfil | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| That yoke's sweet duties, which my soul enchain, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| I seek release, but find the effort vain; | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| The more I fly, the nearer seems my ill. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| So, like the stag, who, wounded by the dart, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Its poison'd iron rankling in his side, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Flies swifter at each quickening anguish'd throb,-- | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| I feel the fatal arrow at my heart; | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Yet with its poison, joy awakes its tide; | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| My flight exhausts me--grief my life doth rob! | 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.