Dialogue Between the Poet and His Eyes
Playne ye, myne eyes, accompanye my harte,For, by your fault, lo, here is death at hand!Ye brought hym first into this bitter band,And of his harme as yett ye felt no part;But now ye shall: Lo! here beginnes your smart.Wett shall you be, ye shall it not withstandWith weepinge teares that shall make dymm your sight,And mystic clowdes shall hang still in your light.Blame but yourselves that kyndlyd have this brand,With suche desyre to strayne that past your might;But, since by you the hart hath caught his harme,His flamed heat shall sometyme make you warme.
Words in this poem
- yett n.
- Any one of several species of large marine gastropods belonging to the genus Yetus, or Cymba; a boat shell.
- 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,]
- wett a.
- Containing, or consisting of, water or other liquid; moist; soaked with a liquid; having water or other liquid upon the surface; as, wet land; a wet cloth; a wet table. [OE. wet, weet, AS. wt; akin to OFries. wt, Icel. vatr, Sw. våt, Dan. vaad, and E. water. Water.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Dialogue Between the Poet and His Eyes 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, Dialogue Between the Poet and His Eyes, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/dialogue-between-the-poet-and-his-eyes.html, id L14583.
Form and metre
Dialogue Between the Poet and His Eyes is 12 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAABCCBCDD. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 8% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See 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 ABBAABCCBCDD harteA · handB · bandB · partA · smartA · withstandB · sightC · lightC · brandB · mightC · harmeD · warmeD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Playne ye, myne eyes, accompanye my harte, | 10 | ·········· |
| For, by your fault, lo, here is death at hand! | 10 | ·········· |
| Ye brought hym first into this bitter band, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And of his harme as yett ye felt no part; | 10 | ·········· |
| But now ye shall: Lo! here beginnes your smart. | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Wett shall you be, ye shall it not withstand | 10 | ········˘/ |
| With weepinge teares that shall make dymm your sight, | 10 | ·········· |
| And mystic clowdes shall hang still in your light. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Blame but yourselves that kyndlyd have this brand, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| With suche desyre to strayne that past your might; | 10 | ·········· |
| But, since by you the hart hath caught his harme, | 10 | ·········· |
| His flamed heat shall sometyme make you warme. | 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.