Harrington
P. Weep, wretched eyes, accompany the heartWhich only from your weakness death sustains.E. Weep? evermore we weep; with keener painsFor others' error than our own we smart.P. Love, entering first through you an easy part,Took up his seat, where now supreme he reigns.E. We oped to him the way, but Hope the veinsFirst fired of him now stricken by death's dart.P. The lots, as seems to you, scarce equal fall'Tween heart and eyes, for you, at first sight, wereEnamour'd of your common ill and shame.E. This is the thought which grieves us most of all;For perfect judgments are on earth so rareThat one man's fault is oft another's blame.
Words in this poem
- evermore adv.
- During eternity; always; forever; for an indefinite period; at all times; -- often used substantively with for.
- keener n.
- A professional mourner who wails at a funeral. [Ireland]
- stricken p. p.
- Struck; smitten; wounded; as, the stricken deer.
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Harrington 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, Harrington, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/harrington.html, id L14584.
Form and metre
Harrington is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAABBACDCDCD, the pattern of the Italian sonnet. The metre is iambic hexameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.4 syllables. 43% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other Italian sonnets, other poems in iambic hexameter.
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 heartA · sustainsB · painsB · smartA · partA · reignsB · veinsB · dartA · fallC · wereD · shameC · allD · rareC · blameD
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 hexameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| P. Weep, wretched eyes, accompany the heart | 10 | ··/˘·˘/˘·· |
| Which only from your weakness death sustains. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| E. Weep? evermore we weep; with keener pains | 11 | ··/˘····/˘· |
| For others' error than our own we smart. | 10 | ·/˘/˘·/··· |
| P. Love, entering first through you an easy part, | 11 | ··/˘····/˘· |
| Took up his seat, where now supreme he reigns. | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| E. We oped to him the way, but Hope the veins | 11 | ··········· |
| First fired of him now stricken by death's dart. | 10 | ·/···/˘··· |
| P. The lots, as seems to you, scarce equal fall | 11 | ········/˘· |
| 'Tween heart and eyes, for you, at first sight, were | 10 | ·········· |
| Enamour'd of your common ill and shame. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| E. This is the thought which grieves us most of all; | 11 | ··········· |
| For perfect judgments are on earth so rare | 10 | ·/·/˘····· |
| That one man's fault is oft another's blame. | 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.