Every Circumstance of His Passion Is a Torment to Him
O scatter'd steps! O vague and busy thoughts!O firm-set memory! O fierce desire!O passion powerful! O failing heart!O eyes of mine, not eyes, but fountains now!O leaf, which honourest illustrious brows,Sole sign of double valour, and best crown!O painful life, O error oft and sweet!That make me search the lone plains and hard hills.O beauteous face! where Love together placedThe spurs and curb, to strive with which is vain,They prick and turn me so at his sole will.O gentle amorous souls, if such there be!And you, O naked spirits of mere dust,Tarry and see how great my suffering is!
Words in this poem
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- beauteous a.
- Full of beauty; beautiful; very handsome. [Mostly poetic] -- Beau"te*ous*ly, adv. --
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Every Circumstance of His Passion Is a Torment to Him 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, Every Circumstance of His Passion Is a Torment to Him, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/every-circumstance-of-his-passion-is-a-torment-to-him.html, id L14690.
Form and metre
Every Circumstance of His Passion Is a Torment to Him 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 84%). 88% 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. 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 thoughtsA · desireB · heartB · nowA · browsA · crownB · sweetB · hillsA · placedC · vainD · willC · beD · dustC · isD
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 scatter'd steps! O vague and busy thoughts! | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| O firm-set memory! O fierce desire! | 11 | ···/˘˘··˘/˘ |
| O passion powerful! O failing heart! | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘·/˘· |
| O eyes of mine, not eyes, but fountains now! | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| O leaf, which honourest illustrious brows, | 10 | ···/˘˘/˘˘· |
| Sole sign of double valour, and best crown! | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| O painful life, O error oft and sweet! | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| That make me search the lone plains and hard hills. | 10 | ·········· |
| O beauteous face! where Love together placed | 11 | ·/˘˘···˘/˘· |
| The spurs and curb, to strive with which is vain, | 10 | ·········· |
| They prick and turn me so at his sole will. | 10 | ·········· |
| O gentle amorous souls, if such there be! | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| And you, O naked spirits of mere dust, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Tarry and see how great my suffering is! | 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.