Dacre
Nor stars bright glittering through the cool still air,Nor proud ships riding on the tranquil main,Nor armed knights light pricking o'er the plain,Nor deer in glades disporting void of care,Nor tidings hoped by recent messenger,Nor tales of love in high and gorgeous strain,Nor by clear stream, green mead, or shady laneSweet-chaunted roundelay of lady fair;Nor aught beside my heart shall e'er engage--Sepulchred, as 'tis henceforth doom'd to be,With her, my eyes' sole mirror, beam, and bliss.Oh! how I long this weary pilgrimageTo close; that I again that form may see,Which never to have seen had been my happiness!
Words in this poem
- gorgeous a.
- Imposing through splendid or various colors; showy; fine; magnificent. [OF. gorgias beautiful, glorious, vain, luxurious; cf. OF. gorgias ruff, neck handkerchief, and F. gorge throat, and se pengorger to assume airs. Cf. Gorge, n.]
- aught n.
- Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
- 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,]
- henceforth adv.
- From this time forward; henceforward.
- pilgrimage n.
- The journey of a pilgrim; a long journey; especially, a journey to a shrine or other sacred place. Fig., the journey of human life. [OE. pilgrimage, pelgrinage; cf. F. pèlerinage.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Dacre 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, Dacre, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/dacre-10.html, id L14916.
Form and metre
Dacre 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 86%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 14% 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 airA · mainB · plainB · careA · messengerA · strainB · laneB · fairA · engageC · beD · blissC · pilgrimageD · seeC · happinessD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Nor stars bright glittering through the cool still air, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Nor proud ships riding on the tranquil main, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Nor armed knights light pricking o'er the plain, | 10 | ··˘··/˘··· |
| Nor deer in glades disporting void of care, | 10 | ·········· |
| Nor tidings hoped by recent messenger, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘˘ |
| Nor tales of love in high and gorgeous strain, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Nor by clear stream, green mead, or shady lane | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Sweet-chaunted roundelay of lady fair; | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘· |
| Nor aught beside my heart shall e'er engage-- | 10 | ··˘/····˘/ |
| Sepulchred, as 'tis henceforth doom'd to be, | 10 | ··˘··//··· |
| With her, my eyes' sole mirror, beam, and bliss. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Oh! how I long this weary pilgrimage | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
| To close; that I again that form may see, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Which never to have seen had been my happiness! | 11 | ·/······/˘˘ |
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.