Dacre
Her bright and love-lit eyes on earth she bends--Concentres her rich breath in one full sigh--A brief pause--a fond hush--her voice on high,Clear, soft, angelical, divine, ascends.Such rapine sweet through all my heart extends,New thoughts and wishes so within me vie,Perforce I say,--"Thus be it mine to die,If Heaven to me so fair a doom intends!"But, ah! those sounds whose sweetness laps my sense,The strong desire of more that in me yearns,Restrain my spirit in its parting hence.Thus at her will I live; thus winds and turnsThe yarn of life which to my lot is given,Earth's single siren, sent to us from heaven.
Words in this poem
- angelical a.
- Belonging to, or proceeding from, angels; resembling, characteristic of, or partaking of the nature of, an angel; heavenly; divine. [L. angelicus, Gr. angélique.]
- perforce v. t.
- To force; to compel.
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-5.html, id L14700.
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 92%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 7% 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 bendsA · sighB · highB · ascendsA · extendsA · vieB · dieB · intendsA · senseC · yearnsD · henceC · turnsD · givenC · heavenD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Her bright and love-lit eyes on earth she bends-- | 10 | ·········· |
| Concentres her rich breath in one full sigh-- | 9 | ········· |
| A brief pause--a fond hush--her voice on high, | 10 | ·········· |
| Clear, soft, angelical, divine, ascends. | 10 | ······˘/˘/ |
| Such rapine sweet through all my heart extends, | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| New thoughts and wishes so within me vie, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Perforce I say,--"Thus be it mine to die, | 10 | ˘/········ |
| If Heaven to me so fair a doom intends!" | 10 | ·/······˘/ |
| But, ah! those sounds whose sweetness laps my sense, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The strong desire of more that in me yearns, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Restrain my spirit in its parting hence. | 10 | ˘/·/˘··/˘· |
| Thus at her will I live; thus winds and turns | 10 | ·········· |
| The yarn of life which to my lot is given, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Earth's single siren, sent to us from heaven. | 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.