Anon. 1777
Thou gale, that movest, and disportest roundThose bright crisp'd locks, by them moved sweetly too,That all their fine gold scatter'st to the view,Then coil'st them up in beauteous braids fresh wound;About those eyes thou playest, where aboundThe am'rous swarms, whose stings my tears renew!And I my treasure tremblingly pursue,Like some scared thing that stumbles o'er the ground.Methinks I find her now, and now perceiveShe's distant; now I soar, and now descend;Now what I wish, now what is true believe.Stay and enjoy, blest air, the living beam;And thou, O rapid, and translucent stream,Why can't I change my course, and thine attend?
Words in this poem
- beauteous a.
- Full of beauty; beautiful; very handsome. [Mostly poetic] -- Beau"te*ous*ly, adv. --
- 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.]
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-1777-4.html, id L14787.
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%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 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 roundA · tooB · viewB · woundA · aboundA · renewB · pursueB · groundA · perceiveC · descendD · believeC · beamD · streamC · attendD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Thou gale, that movest, and disportest round | 10 | ·········· |
| Those bright crisp'd locks, by them moved sweetly too, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| That all their fine gold scatter'st to the view, | 10 | ·········· |
| Then coil'st them up in beauteous braids fresh wound; | 11 | ·····/˘˘··· |
| About those eyes thou playest, where abound | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| The am'rous swarms, whose stings my tears renew! | 10 | ········˘/ |
| And I my treasure tremblingly pursue, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Like some scared thing that stumbles o'er the ground. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Methinks I find her now, and now perceive | 10 | ˘/······˘/ |
| She's distant; now I soar, and now descend; | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Now what I wish, now what is true believe. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Stay and enjoy, blest air, the living beam; | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| And thou, O rapid, and translucent stream, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| Why can't I change my course, and thine attend? | 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.