Ballata I
When hope was in its bloomy prime,And when I vainly fancied nighThe meed of all my constancy;Then sudden she, of whom I soughtCompassion, from my sight was caught.O ruthless Death! O life severe!The one has sunk me deep in care,And darken'd cruelly my day,That shone with hope's enlivening ray:The other, adverse to my will,Doth here on earth detain me still;And interdicts me to pursueHer, who from all its scenes withdrew:Yet in my heart resides the fair,For ever, ever present there;Who well perceives the ills that waitUpon my wretched, mortal state.
Words in this poem
- bloomy a.
- Full of bloom; flowery; flourishing with the vigor of youth; as, a bloomy spray.
- meed v. t.
- To reward; to repay. Waytt.
- ruthless a.
- Having no ruth; cruel; pitiless.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ballata I 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, Ballata I, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/ballata-i.html, id L14935.
Form and metre
Ballata I is 17 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 82% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 24% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 ---AABBCCDDEEBBFF prime · nigh · constancy · soughtA · caughtA · severeB · careB · dayC · rayC · willD · stillD · pursueE · withdrewE · fairB · thereB · waitF · stateF
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| When hope was in its bloomy prime, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And when I vainly fancied nigh | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| The meed of all my constancy; | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Then sudden she, of whom I sought | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Compassion, from my sight was caught. | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| O ruthless Death! O life severe! | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| The one has sunk me deep in care, | 8 | ········ |
| And darken'd cruelly my day, | 7 | ·/˘/˘·· |
| That shone with hope's enlivening ray: | 9 | ····˘/˘˘· |
| The other, adverse to my will, | 8 | ·/˘/···· |
| Doth here on earth detain me still; | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| And interdicts me to pursue | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Her, who from all its scenes withdrew: | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Yet in my heart resides the fair, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| For ever, ever present there; | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Who well perceives the ills that wait | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Upon my wretched, mortal state. | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
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.