Better Is It to Die Happy than to Live in Pain
Always in hate the window shall I bear,Whence Love has shot on me his shafts at will,Because not one of them sufficed to kill:For death is good when life is bright and fair,But in this earthly jail its term to outwearIs cause to me, alas! of infinite ill;And mine is worse because immortal still,Since from the heart the spirit may not tear.Wretched! ere this who surely ought'st to knowBy long experience, from his onward courseNone can stay Time by flattery or by force.Oft and again have I address'd it so:Mourner, away! he parteth not too soonWho leaves behind him far his life's calm June.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- outwear v. t.
- To wear out; to consume or destroy by wearing.
- mourner n.
- One who mourns or is grieved at any misfortune, as the death of a friend.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Better Is It to Die Happy than to Live in Pain 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, Better Is It to Die Happy than to Live in Pain, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/better-is-it-to-die-happy-than-to-live-in-pain.html, id L14586.
Form and metre
Better Is It to Die Happy than to Live in Pain 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 87%). 88% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 29% 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 bearA · willB · killB · fairA · outwearA · illB · stillB · tearA · knowC · courseD · forceC · soD · soonC · juneD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Always in hate the window shall I bear, | 10 | /····/˘··· |
| Whence Love has shot on me his shafts at will, | 10 | ·········· |
| Because not one of them sufficed to kill: | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| For death is good when life is bright and fair, | 10 | ·········· |
| But in this earthly jail its term to outwear | 11 | ···/˘····˘/ |
| Is cause to me, alas! of infinite ill; | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| And mine is worse because immortal still, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Since from the heart the spirit may not tear. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Wretched! ere this who surely ought'st to know | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| By long experience, from his onward course | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| None can stay Time by flattery or by force. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Oft and again have I address'd it so: | 10 | ··˘/··˘/·· |
| Mourner, away! he parteth not too soon | 10 | /˘˘/·/˘··· |
| Who leaves behind him far his life's calm June. | 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.