Dacre
Now hast thou shown the utmost of thy might,O cruel Death! Love's kingdom hast thou rent,And made it poor; in narrow grave hast pentThe blooming flower of beauty and its light!Our wretched life thou hast despoil'd outrightOf every honour, every ornament!But then her fame, her worth, by thee unblent,Shall still survive!--her dust is all thy right;The rest heaven holds, proud of her charms divineAs of a brighter sun. Nor dies she here--Her memory lasts, to good men ever dear!O angel new, in thy celestial sphereLet pity now thy sainted heart incline,As here below thy beauty vanquish'd mine!
Words in this poem
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- pent p. p.
- Penned or shut up; confined; -- often with up. [From Pen, v. t.]
- outright adv.
- Immediately; without delay; at once; as, he was killed outright.
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
- 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,]
- sainted a.
- Consecrated; sacred; holy; pious.
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-12.html, id L14939.
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 91%). 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 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 mightA · rentB · pentB · lightA · outrightA · ornamentB · unblentB · rightA · divineC · hereD · dearC · sphereD · inclineC · mineD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Now hast thou shown the utmost of thy might, | 10 | ·····/···· |
| O cruel Death! Love's kingdom hast thou rent, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| And made it poor; in narrow grave hast pent | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The blooming flower of beauty and its light! | 10 | ·/˘/·/˘··· |
| Our wretched life thou hast despoil'd outright | 10 | //˘·····// |
| Of every honour, every ornament! | 11 | ·/˘/˘/˘˘/˘˘ |
| But then her fame, her worth, by thee unblent, | 10 | ·········· |
| Shall still survive!--her dust is all thy right; | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| The rest heaven holds, proud of her charms divine | 10 | ··/·····˘/ |
| As of a brighter sun. Nor dies she here-- | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Her memory lasts, to good men ever dear! | 10 | ·/˘˘····/· |
| O angel new, in thy celestial sphere | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Let pity now thy sainted heart incline, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| As here below thy beauty vanquish'd mine! | 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.