He Appeases Her by Humility, and Exhorts a Friend to Do Likewise
When my sweet foe, so haughty oft and high,Moved my brief ire no more my sight can thole,One comfort is vouchsafed me lest I die,Through whose sole strength survives my harass'd soul;Where'er her eyes--all light which would denyTo my sad life--in scorn or anger roll,Mine with such true humility reply,Soon their meek glances all her rage control,Were it not so, methinks I less could brookTo gaze on hers than on Medusa's mien,Which turn'd to marble all who met her look.My friend, act thus with thine, for closed I weenAll other aid, and nothing flight availsAgainst the wings on which our master sails.
Words in this poem
- haughty a.
- High; lofty; bold. [OE. hautein, F. hautain, fr. haut high, OF. also halt, fr. L. altus. See Altitude.]
- thole v. t.
- To bear; to endure; to undergo. Gower. [OE. þolen, þolien, AS. þolian; akin to OS. tholon, OHG. dolen, G. geduld patience, dulden to endure, Icel. þola, Sw. tåla, Dan. taale, Goth. þulan, L. tolerate,]
- methinks v.
- It seems to me; I think. See Me. [AS. þyncan to seem, me þynceedh, me þuhte, OE. me thinketh, me thoughte; akin to G. dünken to seem, denken to think, and E. think. See Me, and Think.]
- ween v. i.
- To think; to imagine; to fancy. [OE. wenen, AS. w, fr. w hope, expectation, opinion; akin to D. waan, OFries. w, OS. & OHG. wan, G. wahn delusion, Icel. van hope, expectation, Goth. w, and D. w]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
He Appeases Her by Humility, and Exhorts a Friend to Do Likewise 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 Appeases Her by Humility, and Exhorts a Friend to Do Likewise, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/he-appeases-her-by-humility-and-exhorts-a-friend-to-do-likew.html, id L14716.
Form and metre
He Appeases Her by Humility, and Exhorts a Friend to Do Likewise 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 86%). 91% 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 highA · tholeB · dieB · soulA · denyA · rollB · replyB · controlA · brookC · mienD · lookC · weenD · availsC · sailsD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When my sweet foe, so haughty oft and high, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Moved my brief ire no more my sight can thole, | 10 | ·········· |
| One comfort is vouchsafed me lest I die, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Through whose sole strength survives my harass'd soul; | 10 | ····˘/·˘/· |
| Where'er her eyes--all light which would deny | 11 | ˘˘/······˘/ |
| To my sad life--in scorn or anger roll, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Mine with such true humility reply, | 10 | ····˘/˘˘˘/ |
| Soon their meek glances all her rage control, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Were it not so, methinks I less could brook | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| To gaze on hers than on Medusa's mien, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Which turn'd to marble all who met her look. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| My friend, act thus with thine, for closed I ween | 10 | ·········· |
| All other aid, and nothing flight avails | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Against the wings on which our master sails. | 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.