Fleeing from Love, He Falls into the Hands of His Ministers
Full well I know that natural wisdom nought,Love, 'gainst thy power, in any age prevail'd,For snares oft set, fond oaths that ever fail'd,Sore proofs of thy sharp talons long had taught;But lately, and in me it wonder wrought--With care this new experience be detail'd--'Tween Tuscany and Elba as I sail'dOn the salt sea, it first my notice caught.I fled from thy broad hands, and, by the way,An unknown wanderer, 'neath the violenceOf winds, and waves, and skies, I helpless lay,When, lo! thy ministers, I knew not whence,Who quickly made me by fresh stings to feelIll who resists his fate, or would conceal.
About this text
Fleeing from Love, He Falls into the Hands of His Ministers 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, Fleeing from Love, He Falls into the Hands of His Ministers, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/fleeing-from-love-he-falls-into-the-hands-of-his-ministers.html, id L14565.
Form and metre
Fleeing from Love, He Falls into the Hands of His Ministers 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 83%). 93% 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. 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 noughtA · prevail'dB · fail'dB · taughtA · wroughtA · detail'dB · sail'dB · caughtA · wayC · violenceD · layC · whenceD · feelC · concealD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Full well I know that natural wisdom nought, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Love, 'gainst thy power, in any age prevail'd, | 10 | ···/·/˘·˘/ |
| For snares oft set, fond oaths that ever fail'd, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Sore proofs of thy sharp talons long had taught; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| But lately, and in me it wonder wrought-- | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| With care this new experience be detail'd-- | 10 | ····˘/˘·˘/ |
| 'Tween Tuscany and Elba as I sail'd | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| On the salt sea, it first my notice caught. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| I fled from thy broad hands, and, by the way, | 10 | ·········· |
| An unknown wanderer, 'neath the violence | 11 | ·˘//˘˘··/˘˘ |
| Of winds, and waves, and skies, I helpless lay, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| When, lo! thy ministers, I knew not whence, | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| Who quickly made me by fresh stings to feel | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Ill who resists his fate, or would conceal. | 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.