He Begs Love to Assist Him, That He May Worthily Celebrate Her
Ah, Love! some succour to my weak mind deign,Lend to my frail and weary style thine aid,To sing of her who is immortal made,A citizen of the celestial reign.And grant, Lord, that my verse the height may gainOf her great praises, else in vain essay'd,Whose peer in worth or beauty never stay'dIn this our world, unworthy to retain.Love answers: "In myself and Heaven what lay,By conversation pure and counsel wise,All was in her whom death has snatch'd away.Since the first morn when Adam oped his eyes,Like form was ne'er--suffice it this to say,Write down with tears what scarce I tell for sighs."
Words in this poem
- succour v. t.
- tiono run to, or run to support; hence, to help or relieve when in difficulty, want, or distress; to assist and deliver from suffering; to relieve; as, to succor a besieged city. [OE. socouren, OF. sucurre, soucourre, secorre, F. secourir, L. succurrere, succursum, to run under, run to the aid of, help, succor; sub under + currere to run.]
- deign v. t.
- To esteem worthy; to consider worth notice; -- opposed to disdain. [OE. deinen, deignen, OF. degner, deigner, daigner, F. daigner, fr. L. dignari to deem worthy, deign, fr. dignus worthy; akin to decere to be fitting. See Decent]
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- suffice v. i.
- To be enough, or sufficient; to meet the need (of anything); to be equal to the end proposed; to be adequate. [OE. suffisen, OF. soufire, F. suffire (cf. suffisant, p.pr.), L. sufficere to put under, to substitute, to avail for, to suffice; sub under + facere to make. Se]
- 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
He Begs Love to Assist Him, That He May Worthily Celebrate Her 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 Begs Love to Assist Him, That He May Worthily Celebrate Her, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/he-begs-love-to-assist-him-that-he-may-worthily-celebrate-he.html, id L14995.
Form and metre
He Begs Love to Assist Him, That He May Worthily Celebrate Her 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 89%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 14% 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 deignA · aidB · madeB · reignA · gainA · essay'dB · stay'dB · retainA · layC · wiseD · awayC · eyesD · sayC · sighsD
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, Love! some succour to my weak mind deign, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Lend to my frail and weary style thine aid, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| To sing of her who is immortal made, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| A citizen of the celestial reign. | 10 | ·/˘˘··˘/˘· |
| And grant, Lord, that my verse the height may gain | 10 | ·········· |
| Of her great praises, else in vain essay'd, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Whose peer in worth or beauty never stay'd | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| In this our world, unworthy to retain. | 10 | ··/·˘/˘·˘/ |
| Love answers: "In myself and Heaven what lay, | 10 | ·/˘··/·/·· |
| By conversation pure and counsel wise, | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| All was in her whom death has snatch'd away. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Since the first morn when Adam oped his eyes, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Like form was ne'er--suffice it this to say, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Write down with tears what scarce I tell for sighs." | 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.