Love Misinterpreted
If the undying thirst that purifiesOur mortal thoughts, could draw mine to the day,Perchance the lord who now holds cruel swayIn Love's high house, would prove more kindly-wise.But since the laws of heaven immortaliseOur souls, and doom our flesh to swift decay,Tongue cannot tell how fair, how pure as day,Is the soul's thirst that far beyond it lies.How then, ah woe is me! shall that chaste fire,Which burns the heart within me, be made known,If sense finds only sense in what it sees?All my fair hours are turned to miseriesWith my loved lord, who minds but lies alone;For, truth to tell, who trusts not is a liar.
Words in this poem
- undying a.
- Not dying; imperishable; unending; immortal; as, the undying souls of men.
- immortalise v. t.
- To render immortal; to cause to live or exist forever. S. Clarke. [Cf. F. immortaliser.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- liar n.
- A person who knowingly utters falsehood; one who lies. [OE. liere. See Lie to falsify.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Love Misinterpreted is in the public domain. This text is taken from Sonnets, Project Gutenberg ebook #10314, the John Addington Symonds 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: Michelangelo Buonarroti, Love Misinterpreted, in Sonnets (1878), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10314, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/michelangelo-sonnets/love-misinterpreted.html, id L15178.
Form and metre
Love Misinterpreted is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 88% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.3 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 29% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABBAABBACD-ADC purifiesA · dayB · swayB · wiseA · immortaliseA · decayB · dayB · liesA · fireC · knownD · sees · miseriesA · aloneD · liarC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| If the undying thirst that purifies | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Our mortal thoughts, could draw mine to the day, | 10 | //˘······· |
| Perchance the lord who now holds cruel sway | 10 | ˘/·····/˘· |
| In Love's high house, would prove more kindly-wise. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| But since the laws of heaven immortalise | 11 | ·····/˘˘/˘˘ |
| Our souls, and doom our flesh to swift decay, | 10 | /···/···˘/ |
| Tongue cannot tell how fair, how pure as day, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Is the soul's thirst that far beyond it lies. | 10 | ·········· |
| How then, ah woe is me! shall that chaste fire, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Which burns the heart within me, be made known, | 10 | ·········· |
| If sense finds only sense in what it sees? | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| All my fair hours are turned to miseries | 11 | ···/˘···/˘˘ |
| With my loved lord, who minds but lies alone; | 10 | ········˘/ |
| For, truth to tell, who trusts not is a liar. | 11 | ·········/˘ |
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.