Macgregor
If virtuous love doth merit recompense--If pity still maintain its wonted sway--I that reward shall win, for bright as dayTo earth and Laura breathes my faith's incense.She fear'd me once--now heavenly confidenceReveals my heart's first hope's unchanging stay;A word, a look, could this alone convey,My heart she reads now, stripp'd of earth's defence.And thus I hope, she for my heavy sighsTo heaven complains, to me she pity showsBy sympathetic visits in my dream:And when this mortal temple breathless lies,Oh! may she greet my soul, enclosed by thoseWhom heaven and virtue love--our friends supreme.
Words in this poem
- virtuous a.
- Possessing or exhibiting virtue. Specifically: -- (a) Exhibiting manly courage and strength; valorous; valiant; brave. [OE. vertuous, OF. vertuos, vertuous, F. vertueux, fr. L. Virtuous. See Virtue, and cf. Virtuoso.]
- wonted a.
- Accustomed; customary; usual.
- 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,]
- laura n.
- A number of hermitages or cells in the same neighborhood occupied by anchorites who were under the same superior. C. Kingsley.
- defence n.
- The act of defending, or the state of being defended; protection, as from violence or danger. [F. défense, OF. defense, fem., defens, masc., fr. L. defensa (cf. Fence.]
- breathless a.
- Spent with labor or violent action; out of breath.
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-38.html, id L14952.
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 93%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 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 recompenseA · swayB · dayB · incenseA · confidenceA · stayB · conveyB · defenceA · sighsC · showsD · dreamC · liesD · thoseC · supremeD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| If virtuous love doth merit recompense-- | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| If pity still maintain its wonted sway-- | 10 | ·/˘·˘/·/˘· |
| I that reward shall win, for bright as day | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| To earth and Laura breathes my faith's incense. | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| She fear'd me once--now heavenly confidence | 11 | ·····/˘˘/˘˘ |
| Reveals my heart's first hope's unchanging stay; | 10 | ˘/····˘/˘· |
| A word, a look, could this alone convey, | 10 | ······˘/˘/ |
| My heart she reads now, stripp'd of earth's defence. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| And thus I hope, she for my heavy sighs | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| To heaven complains, to me she pity shows | 10 | ·/˘/···/˘· |
| By sympathetic visits in my dream: | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| And when this mortal temple breathless lies, | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| Oh! may she greet my soul, enclosed by those | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Whom heaven and virtue love--our friends supreme. | 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.