Macgregor
The mirror'd friend--my changing form hath read.My every power's incipient decay--My wearied soul--alike, in warning say"Thyself no more deceive, thy youth hath fled."'Tis ever best to be by Nature led,We strive with her, and Death makes us his prey;At that dread thought, as flames the waters stay,The dream is gone my life hath sadly fed.I wake to feel how soon existence flies:Once known, 'tis gone, and never to return.Still vibrates in my heart the thrilling toneOf her, who now her beauteous shrine defies:But she, who here to rival, none could learn,Hath robb'd her sex, and with its fame hath flown.
Words in this poem
- sadly adv.
- Wearily; heavily; firmly.
- thrilling a.
- Causing a thrill; causing tremulous excitement; deeply moving; as, a thrilling romance.
- beauteous a.
- Full of beauty; beautiful; very handsome. [Mostly poetic] -- Beau"te*ous*ly, adv. --
- flown a.
- Flushed, inflated.
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-44.html, id L14986.
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%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 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 readA · decayB · sayB · fledA · ledA · preyB · stayB · fedA · fliesC · returnD · toneC · defiesD · learnC · flownD
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 mirror'd friend--my changing form hath read. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| My every power's incipient decay-- | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘˘˘/ |
| My wearied soul--alike, in warning say | 10 | ·/˘·˘/·/˘· |
| "Thyself no more deceive, thy youth hath fled." | 10 | ˘/··˘/···· |
| 'Tis ever best to be by Nature led, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| We strive with her, and Death makes us his prey; | 10 | ·········· |
| At that dread thought, as flames the waters stay, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The dream is gone my life hath sadly fed. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| I wake to feel how soon existence flies: | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Once known, 'tis gone, and never to return. | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Still vibrates in my heart the thrilling tone | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Of her, who now her beauteous shrine defies: | 11 | ·····/˘˘·˘/ |
| But she, who here to rival, none could learn, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Hath robb'd her sex, and with its fame hath flown. | 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.