Anon. 1777
Alas, Sennuccio! would thy mind could frameWhat now I suffer! what my life's drear reign;Consumed beneath my heart's continued pain,At will she guides me--yet am I the same.Now humble--then doth pride her soul inflame;Now harsh--then gentle; cruel--kind again;Now all reserve--then borne on frolic's vein;Disdain alternates with a milder claim.Here once she sat, and there so sweetly sang;Here turn'd to look on me, and lingering stood;There first her beauteous eyes my spirit stole:And here she smiled, and there her accents rang,Her speaking face here told another mood.Thus Love, our sovereign, holds me in control.
Words in this poem
- drear n.
- Sadness; dismalness.
- beauteous a.
- Full of beauty; beautiful; very handsome. [Mostly poetic] -- Beau"te*ous*ly, adv. --
- stole n.
- A long, loose garment reaching to the feet. [AS. stole, L. stola, Gr. stall. See Stall.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Anon. 1777 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, Anon. 1777, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/anon-1777-2.html, id L14624.
Form and metre
Anon. 1777 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 88%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 7% 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 frameA · reignB · painB · sameA · inflameA · againB · veinB · claimA · sangC · stoodD · stoleC · rangD · moodC · controlD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Alas, Sennuccio! would thy mind could frame | 10 | ˘/········ |
| What now I suffer! what my life's drear reign; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Consumed beneath my heart's continued pain, | 10 | ˘/····˘/˘· |
| At will she guides me--yet am I the same. | 10 | ·········· |
| Now humble--then doth pride her soul inflame; | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Now harsh--then gentle; cruel--kind again; | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Now all reserve--then borne on frolic's vein; | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| Disdain alternates with a milder claim. | 10 | ˘//˘···/˘· |
| Here once she sat, and there so sweetly sang; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Here turn'd to look on me, and lingering stood; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| There first her beauteous eyes my spirit stole: | 10 | ···/˘˘··/· |
| And here she smiled, and there her accents rang, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Her speaking face here told another mood. | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Thus Love, our sovereign, holds me in control. | 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.