To the Volume of Posthumous Poems Published in 1824
In nobil sangue vita umile e queta,Ed in alto intelletto un puro coreFrutto senile in sul giovenil fibre,E in aspetto pensoso anima lieta.--PETRARCA.
Words in this poem
- senile a.
- Of or pertaining to old age; proceeding from, or characteristic of, old age; affected with the infirmities of old age; as, senile weakness. [L. senilis, from senex, gen. senis, old, an old man: cf. F. sénile. See Senior.]
- fibre n.
- One of the delicate, threadlike portions of which the tissues of plants and animals are in part constituted; as, the fiber of flax or of muscle. [F. fibre, L. fibra.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To the Volume of Posthumous Poems Published in 1824 is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley — Volume 1, Project Gutenberg ebook #4797; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Percy Bysshe Shelley, To the Volume of Posthumous Poems Published in 1824, in The Complete Poetical Works, Volume I (1813–1820), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #4797, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shelley-poems/to-the-volume-of-posthumous-poems-published-in-1824.html, id L00196.
Form and metre
To the Volume of Posthumous Poems Published in 1824 is 4 lines in a single stanza. The lines average 12.8 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
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.
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| In nobil sangue vita umile e queta, | 12 | ····/˘······ |
| Ed in alto intelletto un puro core | 12 | ··/˘········ |
| Frutto senile in sul giovenil fibre, | 11 | ··/······/˘ |
| E in aspetto pensoso anima lieta.--PETRARCA. | 16 | ··············/˘ |
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.