He Despairs of Escape from the Torments by Which He Is Surrounded
Nor Ocean holds such swarms amid his waves,Not overhead, where circles the pale moon,Were stars so numerous ever seen by night,Nor dwell so many birds among the woods,Nor plants so many clothe the field or hill,As holds my tost heart busy thoughts each eve.
Each day I hope that this my latest eveShall part from my quick clay the sad salt waves,And leave me in last sleep on some cold hill;So many torments man beneath the moonNe'er bore as I have borne; this know the woodsThrough which I wander lonely day and night.
For never have I had a tranquil night,But ceaseless sighs instead from morn till eve,Since love first made me tenant of the woods:The sea, ere I can rest, shall lose his waves,The sun his light shall borrow from the moon,And April flowers be blasted o'er each hill.
Thus, to myself a prey, from hill to hill,Pensive by day I roam, and weep at night,No one state mine, but changeful as the moon;And when I see approaching the brown eve,Sighs from my bosom, from my eyes fall waves,The herbs to moisten and to move the woods.
Hostile the cities, friendly are the woodsTo thoughts like mine, which, on this lofty hill,Mingle their murmur with the moaning waves,Through the sweet silence of the spangled night,So that the livelong day I wait the eve,When the sun sets and rises the fair moon.
Would, like Endymion, 'neath the enamour'd moon,That slumbering I were laid in leafy woods,And that ere vesper she who makes my eve,With Love and Luna on that favour'd hill,Alone, would come, and stay but one sweet night,While stood the sun nor sought his western waves.
Upon the hard waves, 'neath the beaming moon,Song, that art born of night amid the woods,Thou shalt a rich hill see to-morrow eve!
Words in this poem
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
- 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,]
- ceaseless a.
- Without pause or end; incessant.
- 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.]
- borrow v. t.
- To receive from another as a loan, with the implied or expressed intention of returning the identical article or its equivalent in kind; -- the opposite of lend. [OE. borwen, AS. borgian, fr. borg, borh, pledge; akin to D. borg, G. borg; prob. fr. root of AS. beorgan to protect. Borough.]
- blasted a.
- Blighted; withered.
- changeful a.
- Full of change; mutable; inconstant; fickle; uncertain.
- livelong a.
- Whole; entire; long in passing; -- used of time, as day or night, in adverbial phrases, and usually with a sense of tediousness. [For lifelong. Cf. Lifelong.]
- vesper n.
- The evening star; Hesper; Venus, when seen after sunset; hence, the evening. [L., the evening, the evening star, the west; akin to Gr. west. Cf. Hesperian, Vespers.]
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
He Despairs of Escape from the Torments by Which He Is Surrounded 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 Despairs of Escape from the Torments by Which He Is Surrounded, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/he-despairs-of-escape-from-the-torments-by-which-he-is-surro.html, id L14798.
Form and metre
He Despairs of Escape from the Torments by Which He Is Surrounded is 39 lines in 7 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. 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. 10% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter, other poems in blank verse.
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.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Nor Ocean holds such swarms amid his waves, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| Not overhead, where circles the pale moon, | 10 | ·/˘/·/˘··· |
| Were stars so numerous ever seen by night, | 10 | ···/˘˘/··· |
| Nor dwell so many birds among the woods, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Nor plants so many clothe the field or hill, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| As holds my tost heart busy thoughts each eve. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Each day I hope that this my latest eve | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Shall part from my quick clay the sad salt waves, | 10 | ·········· |
| And leave me in last sleep on some cold hill; | 10 | ·········· |
| So many torments man beneath the moon | 10 | ·/˘/······ |
| Ne'er bore as I have borne; this know the woods | 10 | ·········· |
| Through which I wander lonely day and night. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| For never have I had a tranquil night, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| But ceaseless sighs instead from morn till eve, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| Since love first made me tenant of the woods: | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The sea, ere I can rest, shall lose his waves, | 10 | ·········· |
| The sun his light shall borrow from the moon, | 10 | ·····/···· |
| And April flowers be blasted o'er each hill. | 10 | ·/˘/·/˘··· |
| Thus, to myself a prey, from hill to hill, | 10 | ···/······ |
| Pensive by day I roam, and weep at night, | 10 | /˘········ |
| No one state mine, but changeful as the moon; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And when I see approaching the brown eve, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Sighs from my bosom, from my eyes fall waves, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The herbs to moisten and to move the woods. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Hostile the cities, friendly are the woods | 10 | ˘/·/˘/˘··· |
| To thoughts like mine, which, on this lofty hill, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Mingle their murmur with the moaning waves, | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| Through the sweet silence of the spangled night, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| So that the livelong day I wait the eve, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| When the sun sets and rises the fair moon. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Would, like Endymion, 'neath the enamour'd moon, | 11 | ··········· |
| That slumbering I were laid in leafy woods, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And that ere vesper she who makes my eve, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| With Love and Luna on that favour'd hill, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Alone, would come, and stay but one sweet night, | 10 | ˘/········ |
| While stood the sun nor sought his western waves. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Upon the hard waves, 'neath the beaming moon, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Song, that art born of night amid the woods, | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Thou shalt a rich hill see to-morrow eve! | 10 | ·······/˘· |
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