He Lives Destitute of All Hope Save That of Rendering Her Immortal
Erewhile I labour'd with complaint so true,And in such fervid rhymes to make me heard,Seem'd as at last some spark of pity stirr'dIn the hard heart which frost in summer knew.Th' unfriendly cloud, whose cold veil o'er it grew,Broke at the first breath of mine ardent wordOr low'ring still she others' blame incurr'dHer bright and killing eyes who thus withdrewNo ruth for self I crave, for her no hate;I wish not this--that passes power of mine:Such was mine evil star and cruel fate.But I shall ever sing her charms divine,That, when I have resign'd this mortal breath,The world may know how sweet to me was death.
Words in this poem
- erewhile adv.
- Some time ago; a little while before; heretofore.
- fervid a.
- Very hot; burning; boiling. [L. fervidus, fr. fervere. See Fervent.]
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- ruth n.
- Sorrow for the misery of another; pity; tenderness. [From Rue, v.: cf. Icel. hryggedh, hrygedh.]
- crave v. t.
- To ask with earnestness or importunity; to ask with submission or humility; to beg; to entreat; to beseech; to implore. [AS. crafian; akin to Icel. krefia, Sw. kr, Dan. kr.]
- 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 Lives Destitute of All Hope Save That of Rendering Her Immortal 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 Lives Destitute of All Hope Save That of Rendering Her Immortal, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/he-lives-destitute-of-all-hope-save-that-of-rendering-her-im.html, id L14771.
Form and metre
He Lives Destitute of All Hope Save That of Rendering Her Immortal 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 93%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 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 trueA · heardB · stirr'dB · knewA · grewA · wordB · incurr'dB · withdrewA · hateC · mineD · fateC · divineD · breathC · deathD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Erewhile I labour'd with complaint so true, | 12 | ········˘/·· |
| And in such fervid rhymes to make me heard, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Seem'd as at last some spark of pity stirr'd | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| In the hard heart which frost in summer knew. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Th' unfriendly cloud, whose cold veil o'er it grew, | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| Broke at the first breath of mine ardent word | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Or low'ring still she others' blame incurr'd | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Her bright and killing eyes who thus withdrew | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| No ruth for self I crave, for her no hate; | 10 | ·········· |
| I wish not this--that passes power of mine: | 10 | ·····/˘/·· |
| Such was mine evil star and cruel fate. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| But I shall ever sing her charms divine, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| That, when I have resign'd this mortal breath, | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| The world may know how sweet to me was death. | 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.