Charlemont
O ye, who list in scatter'd verse the soundOf all those sighs with which my heart I fed,When I, by youthful error first misled,Unlike my present self in heart was found;Who list the plaints, the reasonings that aboundThroughout my song, by hopes, and vain griefs bred;If e'er true love its influence o'er ye shed,Oh! let your pity be with pardon crown'd.But now full well I see how to the crowdFor length of time I proved a public jest:E'en by myself my folly is allow'd:And of my vanity the fruit is shame,Repentance, and a knowledge strong imprest,That worldly pleasure is a passing dream.
Words in this poem
- jest n.
- A deed; an action; a gest. [OE. jeste, geste, deed, action, story, tale, OF. geste, LL. gesta, orig., exploits, neut. pl. from L. gestus, p. p. of gerere to bear, carry, accomplish, perfor]
- imprest v. t.
- To advance on loan. Burke. [Pref. im- + prest: cf. It. imprestare. See Prest, n.]
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.html, id L14459.
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 91%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 21% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end. Rhymes that have moved apart since the poem was written: beam / flame, fly / joy, eye / joy, hour / pour, love / remove and 8 more.
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 soundA · fedB · misledB · foundA · aboundA · bredB · shedB · crown'dA · crowdC · jestD · allow'dC · shameD · imprestC · dreamD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| O ye, who list in scatter'd verse the sound | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Of all those sighs with which my heart I fed, | 10 | ·········· |
| When I, by youthful error first misled, | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Unlike my present self in heart was found; | 10 | ˘/·/˘····· |
| Who list the plaints, the reasonings that abound | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Throughout my song, by hopes, and vain griefs bred; | 10 | ·········· |
| If e'er true love its influence o'er ye shed, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Oh! let your pity be with pardon crown'd. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| But now full well I see how to the crowd | 10 | ·········· |
| For length of time I proved a public jest: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| E'en by myself my folly is allow'd: | 10 | ···/·/˘·˘/ |
| And of my vanity the fruit is shame, | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| Repentance, and a knowledge strong imprest, | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| That worldly pleasure is a passing dream. | 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.