He Feels That the Day of Their Reunion Is at Hand
Methinks from hour to hour her voice I hear:My Lady calls me! I would fain obey;Within, without, I feel myself decay;And am so alter'd--not with many a year--That to myself a stranger I appear;All my old usual life is put away--Could I but know how long I have to stay!Grant, Heaven, the long-wish'd summons may be near!Oh, blest the day when from this earthly gaolI shall be freed, when burst and broken liesThis mortal guise, so heavy yet so frail,When from this black night my saved spirit flies,Soaring up, up, above the bright serene,Where with my Lord my Lady shall be seen.
Words in this poem
- methinks v.
- It seems to me; I think. See Me. [AS. þyncan to seem, me þynceedh, me þuhte, OE. me thinketh, me thoughte; akin to G. dünken to seem, denken to think, and E. think. See Me, and Think.]
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- 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 Feels That the Day of Their Reunion Is at Hand 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 Feels That the Day of Their Reunion Is at Hand, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/he-feels-that-the-day-of-their-reunion-is-at-hand.html, id L14978.
Form and metre
He Feels That the Day of Their Reunion Is at Hand 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 90%). 96% 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 hearA · obeyB · decayB · yearA · appearA · awayB · stayB · nearA · gaolC · liesD · frailC · fliesD · sereneC · seenD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Methinks from hour to hour her voice I hear: | 10 | ˘/·/·/···· |
| My Lady calls me! I would fain obey; | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Within, without, I feel myself decay; | 10 | ·······/˘/ |
| And am so alter'd--not with many a year-- | 10 | ···/˘··/·· |
| That to myself a stranger I appear; | 10 | ···/·/˘·˘/ |
| All my old usual life is put away-- | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Could I but know how long I have to stay! | 10 | ·········· |
| Grant, Heaven, the long-wish'd summons may be near! | 10 | ·/···/˘··· |
| Oh, blest the day when from this earthly gaol | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| I shall be freed, when burst and broken lies | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| This mortal guise, so heavy yet so frail, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| When from this black night my saved spirit flies, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Soaring up, up, above the bright serene, | 10 | /˘······˘/ |
| Where with my Lord my Lady shall be seen. | 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.