Macgregor
Ah me! the last of all my happy days(Not many happy days my years can show)Was come! I felt my heart as turn'd to snow,Presage, perhaps, that happiness decays!E'en as the man whose shivering frame betrays,And fluttering pulse, the ague's coming blow;'Twas thus I felt!--but could I therefore knowHow soon would end the bliss that never stays?Those eyes that now, in heaven's delicious light,Drink in pure beams which life and glory rain,Just as they left mine, blinded, sunk in night,Seem'd thus to say, sparkling unwonted bright,--"Awhile, beloved friends, in peace remain,Oh, we shall yet elsewhere exchange fond looks again!"
Words in this poem
- unwonted a.
- Not wonted; unaccustomed; unused; not made familiar by practice; as, a child unwonted to strangers.
- awhile adv.
- For a while; for some time; for a short time. [Adj. a + while time, interval.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
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-37.html, id L14943.
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 83%). 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 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 daysA · showB · snowB · decaysA · betraysA · blowB · knowB · staysA · lightC · rainD · nightC · brightD · remainC · againD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ah me! the last of all my happy days | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| (Not many happy days my years can show) | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Was come! I felt my heart as turn'd to snow, | 10 | ·········· |
| Presage, perhaps, that happiness decays! | 10 | /˘˘/·/˘˘˘/ |
| E'en as the man whose shivering frame betrays, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| And fluttering pulse, the ague's coming blow; | 10 | ·/˘˘···/˘· |
| 'Twas thus I felt!--but could I therefore know | 10 | ·········· |
| How soon would end the bliss that never stays? | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Those eyes that now, in heaven's delicious light, | 11 | ·····/˘˘/˘· |
| Drink in pure beams which life and glory rain, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Just as they left mine, blinded, sunk in night, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Seem'd thus to say, sparkling unwonted bright,-- | 10 | ····/˘˘/˘· |
| "Awhile, beloved friends, in peace remain, | 10 | ˘/˘/˘···˘/ |
| Oh, we shall yet elsewhere exchange fond looks again!" | 12 | ····/·˘/··˘/ |
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.