He Attributes the Wickedness of the Court of Rome to Its Great Wealth
Spring of all woe, O den of curssed ire,Scoole of errour, temple of heresye;Thow Pope, I meane, head of hypocrasye,Thow and thie churche, unsaciat of desyre,Have all the world filled full of myserye;Well of disceate, thow dungeon full of fyre,That hydes all truthe to breed idolatrie.Thow wicked wretche, Chryste cannot be a lyer,Behold, therefore, thie judgment hastelye;Thye first founder was gentill povertie,But there against is all thow dost requyre.Thow shameless beaste wheare hast thow thie trust,In thie whoredome, or in thie riche attyre?Loe! Constantyne, that is turned into dust,Shall not retourne for to mayntaine thie lust;But now his heires, that might not sett thee higher,For thie greate pryde shall teare thye seate asonder,And scourdge thee so that all the world shall wonder.
Words in this poem
- errour n.
- A wandering; a roving or irregular course. [OF. error, errur, F. erreur, L. error, fr. errare to err. See Err.]
- dungeon n.
- A close, dark prison, commondonjon or keep of a castle, these being used as prisons. [OE. donjoun highest tower of a castle, tower, prison, F. donjon tower or platform in the midst of a castle, turret, or closet on the top of a house, a keep of a]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- 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,]
- lust v. i.
- To list; to like. [AS. lystan. See Lust, n., and cf. List to choose.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
He Attributes the Wickedness of the Court of Rome to Its Great Wealth 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 Attributes the Wickedness of the Court of Rome to Its Great Wealth, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/he-attributes-the-wickedness-of-the-court-of-rome-to-its-gre.html, id L14658.
Form and metre
He Attributes the Wickedness of the Court of Rome to Its Great Wealth is 18 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 81%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
See 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 ABBACAD-CDAEAEE--- ireA · heresyeB · hypocrasyeB · desyreA · myseryeC · fyreA · idolatrieD · lyer · hastelyeC · povertieD · requyreA · trustE · attyreA · dustE · lustE · higher · asonder · wonder
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Spring of all woe, O den of curssed ire, | 10 | ········˘· |
| Scoole of errour, temple of heresye; | 11 | ···/˘/˘···· |
| Thow Pope, I meane, head of hypocrasye, | 10 | ·········· |
| Thow and thie churche, unsaciat of desyre, | 10 | ·········· |
| Have all the world filled full of myserye; | 10 | ·········· |
| Well of disceate, thow dungeon full of fyre, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| That hydes all truthe to breed idolatrie. | 10 | ·········· |
| Thow wicked wretche, Chryste cannot be a lyer, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Behold, therefore, thie judgment hastelye; | 10 | ˘/···/˘··· |
| Thye first founder was gentill povertie, | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| But there against is all thow dost requyre. | 10 | ·········· |
| Thow shameless beaste wheare hast thow thie trust, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| In thie whoredome, or in thie riche attyre? | 11 | ··········· |
| Loe! Constantyne, that is turned into dust, | 10 | ·········· |
| Shall not retourne for to mayntaine thie lust; | 10 | ·········· |
| But now his heires, that might not sett thee higher, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| For thie greate pryde shall teare thye seate asonder, | 11 | ··········· |
| And scourdge thee so that all the world shall wonder. | 11 | ·········/˘ |
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.