Juliet of Nations
I heard last night a little child go singing’Neath Casa Guidi windows, by the church,O bella libertà, O bella!--stringingThe same words still on notes he went in searchSo high for, you concluded the upspringingOf such a nimble bird to sky from perchMust leave the whole bush in a tremble green,And that the heart of Italy must beat,While such a voice had leave to rise serene’Twixt church and palace of a Florence street;A little child, too, who not long had beenBy mother’s finger steadied on his feet,And still O bella libertà he sang.
Words in this poem
- casa n.
- A house or mansion. [Sp. Amer. & Phil. Islands]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Juliet of Nations is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems Every Child Should Know The What-Every-Child-Should-Know-Library, Project Gutenberg ebook #16436; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Mary E. Burt, Juliet of Nations, in Poems Every Child Should Know (1904), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16436, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/poems-every-child/juliet-of-nations.html, id L25277.
Form and metre
Juliet of Nations is 13 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
See 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 ABABABCDCD-D- singingA · churchB · stringingA · searchB · upspringingA · perchB · greenC · beatD · sereneC · streetD · been · feetD · sang
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I heard last night a little child go singing | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| ’Neath Casa Guidi windows, by the church, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| O bella libertà, O bella!--stringing | 10 | ·/˘/˘·/˘/˘ |
| The same words still on notes he went in search | 10 | ·········· |
| So high for, you concluded the upspringing | 11 | ····˘/˘···· |
| Of such a nimble bird to sky from perch | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Must leave the whole bush in a tremble green, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And that the heart of Italy must beat, | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| While such a voice had leave to rise serene | 10 | ········˘/ |
| ’Twixt church and palace of a Florence street; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| A little child, too, who not long had been | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| By mother’s finger steadied on his feet, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| And still O bella libertà he sang. | 9 | ···/˘/˘·· |
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.