Charlemont
Stranger, whose curious glance delights to traceWhat Heaven and Nature join'd to frame most rare;Here view mine eyes' bright sun--a sight so fair,That purblind worlds, like me, enamour'd gaze.But speed thy step; for Death with rapid pacePursues the best, nor makes the bad his care:Call'd to the skies through yon blue fields of air,On buoyant plume the mortal grace obeys.Then haste, and mark in one rich form combined(And, for that dazzling lustre dimm'd mine eye,Chide the weak efforts of my trembling lay)Each charm of person, and each power of mind--But, slowly if thy lingering foot comply,Grief and repentant shame shall mourn the brief delay.
Words in this poem
- curious a.
- Difficult to please or satisfy; solicitous to be correct; careful; scrupulous; nice; exact. [OF. curios, curius, F. curieux, L. curiosus careful, inquisitive, fr. cura care. See Cure.]
- lustre n.
- A period of five years; a lustrum. [L. lustrum: cf. F. lustre.]
- repentant a.
- Penitent; sorry for sin. [F. repentant.]
- 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,]
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-6.html, id L14814.
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 88%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 21% 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 traceA · rareB · fairB · gazeA · paceA · careB · airB · obeysA · combinedC · eyeD · layC · mindD · complyC · delayD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Stranger, whose curious glance delights to trace | 10 | /˘·/˘·˘/·· |
| What Heaven and Nature join'd to frame most rare; | 10 | ·/·/˘····· |
| Here view mine eyes' bright sun--a sight so fair, | 10 | ·········· |
| That purblind worlds, like me, enamour'd gaze. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| But speed thy step; for Death with rapid pace | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Pursues the best, nor makes the bad his care: | 10 | ˘/········ |
| Call'd to the skies through yon blue fields of air, | 10 | ·········· |
| On buoyant plume the mortal grace obeys. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Then haste, and mark in one rich form combined | 10 | ········˘/ |
| (And, for that dazzling lustre dimm'd mine eye, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Chide the weak efforts of my trembling lay) | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Each charm of person, and each power of mind-- | 10 | ···/˘··/·· |
| But, slowly if thy lingering foot comply, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Grief and repentant shame shall mourn the brief delay. | 12 | ··˘/˘·····˘/ |
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.