He Apostrophizes the Spot Where Laura First Saluted Him
Ah, happiest spot of earth! in this sweet placeLove first beheld my condescending fairRetard her steps, to smile with courteous graceOn me, and smiling glad the ambient air.The deep-cut image, wrought with skilful care,Time shall from hardest adamant efface,Ere from my mind that smile it shall erase,Dear to my soul! which memory planted there.Oft as I view thee, heart-enchanting soil!With amorous awe I'll seek--delightful toil!Where yet some traces of her footsteps lie.And if fond Love still warms her generous breast,Whene'er you see her, gentle friend! requestThe tender tribute of a tear--a sigh.
Words in this poem
- ambient a.
- Encompassing on all sides; circumfused; investing. [L. ambiens, p. pr. of ambire to go around; amb- + ire to go.]
- 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,]
- generous a.
- Of honorable birth or origin; highborn. [F. généreux, fr. L. generous of noble birth, noble, excellent, magnanimous, fr. genus birth, race: cf. It. generoso. See 2d Gender.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
He Apostrophizes the Spot Where Laura First Saluted 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, He Apostrophizes the Spot Where Laura First Saluted Him, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/he-apostrophizes-the-spot-where-laura-first-saluted-him.html, id L14618.
Form and metre
He Apostrophizes the Spot Where Laura First Saluted 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 85%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 29% 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 placeA · fairB · graceB · airA · careA · effaceB · eraseB · thereA · soilC · toilD · lieC · breastD · requestC · sighD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ah, happiest spot of earth! in this sweet place | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Love first beheld my condescending fair | 10 | ··˘/··˘/˘· |
| Retard her steps, to smile with courteous grace | 10 | ˘/·····/˘· |
| On me, and smiling glad the ambient air. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| The deep-cut image, wrought with skilful care, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Time shall from hardest adamant efface, | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘˘/ |
| Ere from my mind that smile it shall erase, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Dear to my soul! which memory planted there. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Oft as I view thee, heart-enchanting soil! | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| With amorous awe I'll seek--delightful toil! | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Where yet some traces of her footsteps lie. | 10 | ···/˘··/·· |
| And if fond Love still warms her generous breast, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Whene'er you see her, gentle friend! request | 11 | ······/˘·˘/ |
| The tender tribute of a tear--a sigh. | 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.