Charlemont
Counting the hours, lest I myself misleadBy blind desire wherewith my heart is torn,E'en while I speak away the moments speed,To me and pity which alike were sworn.What shade so cruel as to blight the seedWhence the wish'd fruitage should so soon be born?What beast within my fold has leap'd to feed?What wall is built between the hand and corn?Alas! I know not, but, if right I guess,Love to such joyful hope has only ledTo plunge my weary life in worse distress;And I remember now what once I read,Until the moment of his full releaseMan's bliss begins not, nor his troubles cease.
Words in this poem
- wherewith adv.
- With which; -- used relatively.
- fruitage n.
- Fruit, collectively; fruit, in general; fruitery. [F. fruitage.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Charlemont 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, Charlemont, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/charlemont-3.html, id L14548.
Form and metre
Charlemont 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 93%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 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 misleadA · tornB · speedB · swornA · seedA · bornB · feedB · cornA · guessC · ledD · distressC · readD · releaseC · ceaseD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Counting the hours, lest I myself mislead | 10 | /˘·/···/˘/ |
| By blind desire wherewith my heart is torn, | 10 | ··˘/˘/···· |
| E'en while I speak away the moments speed, | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| To me and pity which alike were sworn. | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| What shade so cruel as to blight the seed | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Whence the wish'd fruitage should so soon be born? | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| What beast within my fold has leap'd to feed? | 10 | ·········· |
| What wall is built between the hand and corn? | 10 | ·········· |
| Alas! I know not, but, if right I guess, | 10 | ˘/········ |
| Love to such joyful hope has only led | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| To plunge my weary life in worse distress; | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| And I remember now what once I read, | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Until the moment of his full release | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Man's bliss begins not, nor his troubles cease. | 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.