Macgregor
Lady! whose gentle virtues have obtain'dFor thee a dwelling with thy Maker blest,To sit enthroned above, in angels' vest(Whose lustre gold nor purple had attain'd):Ah! thou who here the most exalted reign'd,Now through the eyes of Him who knows each breast,That heart's pure faith and love thou canst attest,Which both my pen and tears alike sustain'd.Thou, knowest, too, my heart was thine on earth,As now it is in heaven; no wish was thereBut to avow thine eyes, its only shrine:Thus to reward the strife which owes its birthTo thee, who won my each affection'd care,Pray God to waft me to his home and thine!
Words in this poem
- vest n.
- An article of clothing covering the person; an outer garment; a vestment; a dress; a vesture; a robe. [L. vestis a garment, vesture; akin to Goth. wasti, and E. wear: cf. F. veste. See Wear to carry on the person, and cf. Divest, Invest, Travesty.]
- lustre n.
- A period of five years; a lustrum. [L. lustrum: cf. F. lustre.]
- attest v. t.
- To bear witness to; to certify; to affirm to be true or genuine; as, to attest the truth of a writing, a copy of record. [L. attestari; ad + testari to bear witness: cf. F. attester.]
- avow v. t.
- To bind, or to devote, by a vow. Wyclif. [OF. avouer, fr. LL. votare to vow, fr. L. votun. See Vote, n.]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- waft v. t.
- To give notice to by waving something; to wave the hand to; to beckon. [Prob. originally imp. & p. p. of wave, v. t. See Wave to waver.]
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-42.html, id L14975.
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 92%). 98% 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 obtain'dA · blestB · vestB · attain'dA · reign'dA · breastB · attestB · sustain'dA · earthC · thereD · shrineC · birthD · careC · thineD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Lady! whose gentle virtues have obtain'd | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| For thee a dwelling with thy Maker blest, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| To sit enthroned above, in angels' vest | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| (Whose lustre gold nor purple had attain'd): | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Ah! thou who here the most exalted reign'd, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Now through the eyes of Him who knows each breast, | 10 | ·········· |
| That heart's pure faith and love thou canst attest, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Which both my pen and tears alike sustain'd. | 10 | ······˘/˘/ |
| Thou, knowest, too, my heart was thine on earth, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| As now it is in heaven; no wish was there | 10 | ·····/···· |
| But to avow thine eyes, its only shrine: | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| Thus to reward the strife which owes its birth | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| To thee, who won my each affection'd care, | 10 | ·········· |
| Pray God to waft me to his home and thine! | 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.