Macgregor
'Mid life's bright glow she dwelt within my soul,The sovereign tenant of a humble cell,But when for heaven she bade the world farewell,Death seem'd to grasp me in his fierce control:My wither'd love torn from its brightening goal--My soul without its treasure doom'd to dwell--Could I but trace their grief, their sorrow tell,A stone might wake, and fain with them condole.They inly mourn, where none can hear their woeSave I alone, who too with grief oppress'd,Can only soothe my anguish by my sighs:Life is indeed a shadowy dream below;Our blind desires by Reason's chain unbless'd,Whilst Hope in treacherous wither'd fragments lies.
Words in this poem
- bade
- A form of the pat tense of Bid.
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- condole v. i.
- To express sympathetic sorrow; to grieve in sympathy; -- followed by with. [L. condolere; con- + dolere to feel pain, grieve. See Doleful.]
- inly a.
- Internal; interior; secret. [OE. inlich, AS. inlic. See In.]
- 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.]
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-28.html, id L14883.
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 89%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 7% 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 soulA · cellB · farewellB · controlA · goalA · dwellB · tellB · condoleA · woeC · oppress'dD · sighsC · belowD · unbless'dC · liesD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 'Mid life's bright glow she dwelt within my soul, | 10 | ·········· |
| The sovereign tenant of a humble cell, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| But when for heaven she bade the world farewell, | 10 | ···/·····/ |
| Death seem'd to grasp me in his fierce control: | 10 | ········˘/ |
| My wither'd love torn from its brightening goal-- | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| My soul without its treasure doom'd to dwell-- | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Could I but trace their grief, their sorrow tell, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| A stone might wake, and fain with them condole. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| They inly mourn, where none can hear their woe | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Save I alone, who too with grief oppress'd, | 10 | ··˘/····˘/ |
| Can only soothe my anguish by my sighs: | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Life is indeed a shadowy dream below; | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| Our blind desires by Reason's chain unbless'd, | 10 | /·˘/·/˘··· |
| Whilst Hope in treacherous wither'd fragments lies. | 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.