He Desires Again to Gaze on the Eyes of Laura
I now perceived that from within me fledThose spirits to which you their being lend;And since by nature's dictates to defendThemselves from death all animals are made,The reins I loosed, with which Desire I stay'd,And sent him on his way without a friend;There whither day and night my course he'd bend,Though still from thence by me reluctant led.And me ashamed and slow along he drewTo see your eyes their matchless influence shower,Which much I shun, afraid to give you pain.Yet for myself this once I'll live; such powerHas o'er this wayward life one look from you:--Then die, unless Desire prevails again.
Words in this poem
- whither adv.
- To what place; -- used interrogatively; as, whither goest thou [OE. whider. AS. hwider; akin to E. where, who; cf. Goth. hvadre whither. See Who, and cf. Hither, Thither.]
- wayward a.
- Taking one's own way; disobedient; froward; perverse; willful. [OE. weiward, for aweiward, i. e., turned away. See Away, and -ward.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
He Desires Again to Gaze on the Eyes of Laura 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 Desires Again to Gaze on the Eyes of Laura, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/he-desires-again-to-gaze-on-the-eyes-of-laura.html, id L14535.
Form and metre
He Desires Again to Gaze on the Eyes of Laura 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 91%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 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 fledA · lendB · defendB · madeA · stay'dA · friendB · bendB · ledA · drewC · showerD · painC · powerD · youC · againD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I now perceived that from within me fled | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Those spirits to which you their being lend; | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And since by nature's dictates to defend | 10 | ···/˘/··˘/ |
| Themselves from death all animals are made, | 10 | ˘/···/˘˘·· |
| The reins I loosed, with which Desire I stay'd, | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| And sent him on his way without a friend; | 10 | ·········· |
| There whither day and night my course he'd bend, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Though still from thence by me reluctant led. | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| And me ashamed and slow along he drew | 10 | ··˘/··˘/·· |
| To see your eyes their matchless influence shower, | 11 | ·····/˘/˘/˘ |
| Which much I shun, afraid to give you pain. | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Yet for myself this once I'll live; such power | 11 | ···/·····/˘ |
| Has o'er this wayward life one look from you:-- | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Then die, unless Desire prevails again. | 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.