Macgregor
When Taurus in his house doth Phoebus keep,There pours so bright a virtue from his crestThat Nature wakes, and stands in beauty drest,The flow'ring meadows start with joy from sleep:Nor they alone rejoice--earth's bosom deep(Though not one beam illumes her night of rest)Responsive smiles, and from her fruitful breastGives forth her treasures for her sons to reap.Thus she, who dwells amid her sex a sun,Shedding upon my soul her eyes' full light,Each thought creates, each deed, each word of love:But though my heart's proud mastery she hath wonAlas! within me dwells eternal night:My spirit ne'er Spring's genial breath doth prove.
Words in this poem
- phoebus n.
- Apollo; the sun god.
- responsive a.
- That responds; ready or inclined to respond. [Cf. F. resposif.]
- reap n.
- A bundle of grain; a handful of grain laid down by the reaper as it is cut. Wright. [Cf. AS. rip harvest. See Reap, v.]
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- genial a.
- Contributing to, or concerned in, propagation or production; generative; procreative; productive. [L. genialis: cf. OF. genial. See Genius.]
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-3.html, id L14476.
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. 29% 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 keepA · crestB · drestB · sleepA · deepA · restB · breastB · reapA · sunC · lightD · loveC · wonD · nightC · proveD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When Taurus in his house doth Phoebus keep, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| There pours so bright a virtue from his crest | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| That Nature wakes, and stands in beauty drest, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| The flow'ring meadows start with joy from sleep: | 10 | ···/······ |
| Nor they alone rejoice--earth's bosom deep | 10 | ··˘/˘/·/˘· |
| (Though not one beam illumes her night of rest) | 10 | ·········· |
| Responsive smiles, and from her fruitful breast | 10 | ˘/˘····/˘· |
| Gives forth her treasures for her sons to reap. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Thus she, who dwells amid her sex a sun, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Shedding upon my soul her eyes' full light, | 10 | /˘········ |
| Each thought creates, each deed, each word of love: | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| But though my heart's proud mastery she hath won | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Alas! within me dwells eternal night: | 10 | ˘/····˘/˘· |
| My spirit ne'er Spring's genial breath doth prove. | 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.