The Evil Results of Unrestrained Anger
What though the ablest artists of old timeLeft us the sculptured bust, the imaged formOf conq'ring Alexander, wrath o'ercameAnd made him for the while than Philip less?Wrath to such fury valiant Tydeus droveThat dying he devour'd his slaughter'd foe;Wrath made not Sylla merely blear of eye,But blind to all, and kill'd him in the end.Well Valentinian knew that to such painWrath leads, and Ajax, he whose death it wrought.Strong against many, 'gainst himself at last.Wrath is brief madness, and, when unrestrain'd,Long madness, which its master often leadsTo shame and crime, and haply e'en to death.
Words in this poem
- valiant a.
- Vigorous in body; strong; powerful; as, a valiant fencer. [OE. valiant, F. vaillant, OF. vaillant, valant, originally p. pr. of OF. & F. valoir to be worth, L. valere to be strong. See Wield, and cf. Avail, Convalesce, ]
- drove n.
- A collection of cattle driven, or cattle collected for driving; a number of animals, as oxen, sheep, or swine, driven in a body. [AS. draf, fr. drifan to drive. See Drive.]
- blear a.
- Dim or sore with water or rheum; -- said of the eyes. [See Blear, v.]
- valentinian n.
- One of a school of Judaizing Gnostics in the second century; -- so called from Valentinus, the founder.
- haply adv.
- By hap, chance, luck, or accident; perhaps; it may be.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Evil Results of Unrestrained Anger 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, The Evil Results of Unrestrained Anger, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/the-evil-results-of-unrestrained-anger.html, id L14792.
Form and metre
The Evil Results of Unrestrained Anger 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 91%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 43% 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 timeA · formB · o'ercameB · lessA · droveA · foeB · eyeB · endA · painC · wroughtD · lastC · unrestrain'dD · leadsC · deathD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| What though the ablest artists of old time | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Left us the sculptured bust, the imaged form | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Of conq'ring Alexander, wrath o'ercame | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| And made him for the while than Philip less? | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Wrath to such fury valiant Tydeus drove | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| That dying he devour'd his slaughter'd foe; | 10 | ·/˘·˘/·/˘· |
| Wrath made not Sylla merely blear of eye, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| But blind to all, and kill'd him in the end. | 10 | ·········· |
| Well Valentinian knew that to such pain | 10 | ·········· |
| Wrath leads, and Ajax, he whose death it wrought. | 10 | ···/······ |
| Strong against many, 'gainst himself at last. | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| Wrath is brief madness, and, when unrestrain'd, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Long madness, which its master often leads | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| To shame and crime, and haply e'en to death. | 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.