Far from His Friends, He Flies to Them in Thought
The more my own fond wishes would impelMy steps to you, sweet company of friends!Fortune with their free course the more contends,And elsewhere bids me roam, by snare and spellThe heart, sent forth by me though it rebel,Is still with you where that fair vale extends,In whose green windings most our sea ascends,From which but yesterday I wept farewell.It took the right-hand way, the left I tried,I dragg'd by force in slavery to remain,It left at liberty with Love its guide;But patience is great comfort amid pain:Long habits mutually form'd declareThat our communion must be brief and rare.
Words in this poem
- rebel a.
- Pertaining to rebels or rebellion; acting in revolt; rebellious; as, rebel troops. [F. rebelle, fr. L. rebellis. See Rebel, v. t.]
- vale n.
- A tract of low ground, or of land between hills; a valley. [OE. val, F. val, L. vallis; perhaps akin to Gr. Avalanche, Vail to lower, Valley.]
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Far from His Friends, He Flies to Them in Thought 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, Far from His Friends, He Flies to Them in Thought, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/far-from-his-friends-he-flies-to-them-in-thought.html, id L14660.
Form and metre
Far from His Friends, He Flies to Them in Thought 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 82%). 87% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 21% 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 impelA · friendsB · contendsB · spellA · rebelA · extendsB · ascendsB · farewellA · triedC · remainD · guideC · painD · declareC · rareD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The more my own fond wishes would impel | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| My steps to you, sweet company of friends! | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| Fortune with their free course the more contends, | 10 | /˘······˘/ |
| And elsewhere bids me roam, by snare and spell | 10 | ·/········ |
| The heart, sent forth by me though it rebel, | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Is still with you where that fair vale extends, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| In whose green windings most our sea ascends, | 10 | ···/˘·/·˘/ |
| From which but yesterday I wept farewell. | 10 | ···/˘····/ |
| It took the right-hand way, the left I tried, | 10 | ·········· |
| I dragg'd by force in slavery to remain, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| It left at liberty with Love its guide; | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| But patience is great comfort amid pain: | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘/· |
| Long habits mutually form'd declare | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘˘·˘/ |
| That our communion must be brief and rare. | 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.