Capel Lofft
Wherefore, my unkind fair one, say,Whether the sun fierce darts his ray,Or whether gloom o'erspreads the sky,That envious veil is ne'er thrown by;Though well you read my heart, and knewHow much I long'd your charms to view?While I conceal'd each tender thought,That my fond mind's destruction wrought,Your face with pity sweetly shone;But, when love made my passion known,Your sunny locks were seen no more,Nor smiled your eyes as heretofore;Behind a jealous cloud retiredThose beauties which I most admired.And shall a veil thus rule my fate?O cruel veil, that whether heatOr cold be felt, art doom'd to proveFatal to me, shadowing the lights I love!
Words in this poem
- wherefore adv.
- For which reason; so; -- used relatively. [Where + for.]
- unkind a.
- Having no race or kindred; childless. [See Kin kindred.]
- envious a.
- Malignant; mischievous; spiteful. [OF. envios, F. envieux, fr. L. invidiosus, fr. invidia envy. See Envy, and cf. Invidious.]
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- admired a.
- Regarded with wonder and delight; highly prized; as, an admired 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,]
- shadowing n.
- Shade, or gradation of light and color; shading. Feltham.
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.html, id L14480.
Form and metre
Capel Lofft is 18 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 89% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.4 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 22% 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGG--HH sayA · rayA · skyB · byB · knewC · viewC · thoughtD · wroughtD · shoneE · knownE · moreF · heretoforeF · retiredG · admiredG · fate · heat · proveH · loveH
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Wherefore, my unkind fair one, say, | 8 | /˘·˘/··· |
| Whether the sun fierce darts his ray, | 8 | ········ |
| Or whether gloom o'erspreads the sky, | 8 | ········ |
| That envious veil is ne'er thrown by; | 9 | ·/˘˘····· |
| Though well you read my heart, and knew | 8 | ········ |
| How much I long'd your charms to view? | 8 | ········ |
| While I conceal'd each tender thought, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| That my fond mind's destruction wrought, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Your face with pity sweetly shone; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| But, when love made my passion known, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Your sunny locks were seen no more, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Nor smiled your eyes as heretofore; | 9 | ··˘····˘/ |
| Behind a jealous cloud retired | 9 | ···/˘·˘/˘ |
| Those beauties which I most admired. | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘˘ |
| And shall a veil thus rule my fate? | 8 | ········ |
| O cruel veil, that whether heat | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Or cold be felt, art doom'd to prove | 8 | ········ |
| Fatal to me, shadowing the lights I love! | 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.