Macgregor
The fragrant gale, and the refreshing shadeOf my sweet laurel, and its verdant form,That were my shelter in life's weary storm,Have felt the power that makes all nature fade:Now has my light been lost in gloomy shade,E'en as the sun behind his sister's form:I call for Death to free me from Death's storm,But Love descends and brings me better aid!He tells me, lady, that one moment's sleepAlone was thine, and then thou didst awakeAmong the elect, and in thy Maker's arms:And if my verse oblivion's power can keepAloof, thy name its place on earth-will takeWhere Genius still will dote upon thy charms!
Words in this poem
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- dote n.
- A marriage portion. See 1st Dot, n. Wyatt. [See Dot dowry.]
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-36.html, id L14941.
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 90%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 36% 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 shadeA · formB · stormB · fadeA · shadeA · formB · stormB · aidA · sleepC · awakeD · armsC · keepD · takeC · charmsD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The fragrant gale, and the refreshing shade | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Of my sweet laurel, and its verdant form, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| That were my shelter in life's weary storm, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Have felt the power that makes all nature fade: | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| Now has my light been lost in gloomy shade, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| E'en as the sun behind his sister's form: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| I call for Death to free me from Death's storm, | 10 | ·········· |
| But Love descends and brings me better aid! | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| He tells me, lady, that one moment's sleep | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Alone was thine, and then thou didst awake | 10 | ˘/······˘/ |
| Among the elect, and in thy Maker's arms: | 11 | ···˘/···/˘· |
| And if my verse oblivion's power can keep | 10 | ····˘/˘/·· |
| Aloof, thy name its place on earth-will take | 10 | ˘/········ |
| Where Genius still will dote upon thy charms! | 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.