Capel Lofft
When all my mind I turn to the one partWhere sheds my lady's face its beauteous light,And lingers in my loving thought the lightThat burns and racks within me ev'ry part,I from my heart who fear that it may part,And see the near end of my single light,Go, as a blind man, groping without light,Who knows not where yet presses to depart.Thus from the blows which ever wish me deadI flee, but not so swiftly that desireCeases to come, as is its wont, with me.Silent I move: for accents of the deadWould melt the general age: and I desireThat sighs and tears should only fall from me.
Words in this poem
- beauteous a.
- Full of beauty; beautiful; very handsome. [Mostly poetic] -- Beau"te*ous*ly, adv. --
- depart v. i.
- To part; to divide; to separate. [OE. departen to divide, part, depart, F. départir to divide, distribute, se départir to separate one's self, depart; pref. dé- (L. de) + partir to part, depart,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Capel Lofft 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, Capel Lofft, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/capel-lofft-3.html, id L14493.
Form and metre
Capel Lofft 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%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 43% 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 partA · lightB · lightB · partA · partA · lightB · lightB · departA · deadC · desireD · meC · deadD · desireC · meD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When all my mind I turn to the one part | 10 | ·········· |
| Where sheds my lady's face its beauteous light, | 11 | ···/˘··/˘˘· |
| And lingers in my loving thought the light | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| That burns and racks within me ev'ry part, | 10 | ·········· |
| I from my heart who fear that it may part, | 10 | ·········· |
| And see the near end of my single light, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Go, as a blind man, groping without light, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Who knows not where yet presses to depart. | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Thus from the blows which ever wish me dead | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| I flee, but not so swiftly that desire | 11 | ·····/˘·˘/˘ |
| Ceases to come, as is its wont, with me. | 10 | /˘········ |
| Silent I move: for accents of the dead | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Would melt the general age: and I desire | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| That sighs and tears should only fall from me. | 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.