He Compares Her to a Laurel, Which He Supplicates Apollo to Defend
O Phoebus, if that fond desire remains,Which fired thy breast near the Thessalian wave;If those bright tresses, which such pleasure gave,Through lapse of years thy memory not disdains;From sluggish frosts, from rude inclement rains.Which last the while thy beams our region leave,That honour'd sacred tree from peril save,Whose name of dear accordance waked our pains!And, by that amorous hope which soothed thy care,What time expectant thou wert doom'd to sighDispel those vapours which disturb our sky!So shall we both behold our favorite fairWith wonder, seated on the grassy mead,And forming with her arms herself a shade.
Words in this poem
- phoebus n.
- Apollo; the sun god.
- thessalian a.
- Of or pertaining to Thessaly in Greece. [Cf. L. Thessalius.]
- inclement a.
- Not clement; destitute of a mild and kind temper; void of tenderness; unmerciful; severe; harsh. [L. inclemens; pref. in- not + clemens mild: cf. F. inclément. See Clement.]
- dispel v. t.
- To drive away by scattering, or so to cause to vanish; to clear away; to banish; to dissipate; as, to dispel a cloud, vapors, cares, doubts, illusions. [L. dispellere; dis- + pellere to push, drive. See Pulse a beating.]
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
He Compares Her to a Laurel, Which He Supplicates Apollo to Defend 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 Compares Her to a Laurel, Which He Supplicates Apollo to Defend, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/he-compares-her-to-a-laurel-which-he-supplicates-apollo-to-d.html, id L14516.
Form and metre
He Compares Her to a Laurel, Which He Supplicates Apollo to Defend 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%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 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 remainsA · waveB · gaveB · disdainsA · rainsA · leaveB · saveB · painsA · careC · sighD · skyC · fairD · meadC · shadeD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| O Phoebus, if that fond desire remains, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘/ |
| Which fired thy breast near the Thessalian wave; | 11 | ·/····˘/˘˘· |
| If those bright tresses, which such pleasure gave, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Through lapse of years thy memory not disdains; | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| From sluggish frosts, from rude inclement rains. | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Which last the while thy beams our region leave, | 10 | ······//˘· |
| That honour'd sacred tree from peril save, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Whose name of dear accordance waked our pains! | 10 | ····˘/˘·/· |
| And, by that amorous hope which soothed thy care, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| What time expectant thou wert doom'd to sigh | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Dispel those vapours which disturb our sky! | 10 | ˘/·/˘·˘//· |
| So shall we both behold our favorite fair | 10 | ····˘///˘· |
| With wonder, seated on the grassy mead, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| And forming with her arms herself a shade. | 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.