Anon. 1777
Amid the wild wood's lone and difficult ways,Where travel at great risk e'en men in arms,I pass secure--for only me alarmsThat sun, which darts of living love the rays--Singing fond thoughts in simple lays to herWhom time and space so little hide from me;E'en here her form, nor hers alone, I see,But maids and matrons in each beech and fir:Methinks I hear her when the bird's soft moan,The sighing leaves I hear, or through the dellWhere its bright lapse some murmuring rill pursues.Rarely of shadowing wood the silence lone,The solitary horror pleased so well,Except that of my sun too much I lose.
Words in this poem
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- methinks v.
- It seems to me; I think. See Me. [AS. þyncan to seem, me þynceedh, me þuhte, OE. me thinketh, me thoughte; akin to G. dünken to seem, denken to think, and E. think. See Me, and Think.]
- dell n.
- A small, retired valley; a ravine. [AS. del, akin to E. dale; cf. D. delle, del, low ground. See Dale.]
- rill n.
- A very small brook; a streamlet. [Cf. LG. rille a small channel or brook, a furrow, a chamfer, OE. rigol a small brook, F. rigole a trench or furrow for water, W. rhill a row, rhigol a little di]
- shadowing n.
- Shade, or gradation of light and color; shading. Feltham.
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-1777-3.html, id L14713.
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 89%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 21% 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 waysA · armsB · alarmsB · raysA · herA · meB · seeB · firA · moanC · dellD · pursuesC · loneD · wellC · loseD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Amid the wild wood's lone and difficult ways, | 10 | ˘/·····/˘· |
| Where travel at great risk e'en men in arms, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| I pass secure--for only me alarms | 10 | ··˘/·/˘·˘/ |
| That sun, which darts of living love the rays-- | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Singing fond thoughts in simple lays to her | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Whom time and space so little hide from me; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| E'en here her form, nor hers alone, I see, | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| But maids and matrons in each beech and fir: | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Methinks I hear her when the bird's soft moan, | 10 | ˘/········ |
| The sighing leaves I hear, or through the dell | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Where its bright lapse some murmuring rill pursues. | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Rarely of shadowing wood the silence lone, | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| The solitary horror pleased so well, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| Except that of my sun too much I lose. | 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.