He Comforts Himself with the Hope That She Hears Him
My thoughts in fair alliance and arrayHold converse on the theme which most endears:Pity approaches and repents delay:E'en now she speaks of us, or hopes, or fears.Since the last day, the terrible hour when FateThis present life of her fair being reft,From heaven she sees, and hears, and feels our state:No other hope than this to me is left.O fairest miracle! most fortunate mind!O unexampled beauty, stately, rare!Whence lent too late, too soon, alas! rejoin'd.Hers is the crown and palm of good deeds there,Who to the world so eminent and clearMade her great virtue and my passion here.
Words in this poem
- reft n.
- A chink; a rift. See Rift. Rom. of R.
- unexampled a.
- Having no example or similar case; being without precedent; unprecedented; unparalleled.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
He Comforts Himself with the Hope That She Hears 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 Comforts Himself with the Hope That She Hears Him, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/he-comforts-himself-with-the-hope-that-she-hears-him.html, id L14884.
Form and metre
He Comforts Himself with the Hope That She Hears 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 84%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 21% 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 arrayA · endearsB · delayB · fearsA · fateA · reftB · stateB · leftA · mindC · rareD · rejoin'dC · thereD · clearC · hereD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| My thoughts in fair alliance and array | 10 | ····˘/˘·˘/ |
| Hold converse on the theme which most endears: | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Pity approaches and repents delay: | 10 | /˘˘/˘·˘/˘/ |
| E'en now she speaks of us, or hopes, or fears. | 10 | ·········· |
| Since the last day, the terrible hour when Fate | 10 | ·····/˘/·· |
| This present life of her fair being reft, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| From heaven she sees, and hears, and feels our state: | 10 | ·/······/· |
| No other hope than this to me is left. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| O fairest miracle! most fortunate mind! | 10 | ·/˘/˘·/˘˘· |
| O unexampled beauty, stately, rare! | 10 | ····˘/˘/˘· |
| Whence lent too late, too soon, alas! rejoin'd. | 10 | ······˘/˘/ |
| Hers is the crown and palm of good deeds there, | 10 | ·········· |
| Who to the world so eminent and clear | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| Made her great virtue and my passion here. | 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.