He Mourns His Want of Perception at That Meeting
O Day, O hour, O moment sweetest, last,O stars conspired to make me poor indeed!O look too true, in which I seem'd to read.At parting, that my happiness was past;Now my full loss I know, I feel at last:Then I believed (ah! weak and idle creed!)'Twas but a part alone I lost; instead,Was there a hope that flew not with the blast?For, even then, it was in heaven ordain'dThat the sweet light of all my life should die:'Twas written in her sadly-pensive eye!But mine unconscious of the truth remain'd;Or, what it would not see, to see refrain'd,That I might sink in sudden misery!
Words in this poem
- sadly adv.
- Wearily; heavily; firmly.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
He Mourns His Want of Perception at That Meeting 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 Mourns His Want of Perception at That Meeting, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/he-mourns-his-want-of-perception-at-that-meeting.html, id L14944.
Form and metre
He Mourns His Want of Perception at That Meeting 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%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 7% 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 lastA · indeedB · readB · pastA · lastA · creedB · insteadB · blastA · ordain'dC · dieD · eyeC · remain'dD · refrain'dC · miseryD
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 Day, O hour, O moment sweetest, last, | 10 | ···/·/˘/˘· |
| O stars conspired to make me poor indeed! | 10 | ··˘/····˘/ |
| O look too true, in which I seem'd to read. | 10 | ·········· |
| At parting, that my happiness was past; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘·· |
| Now my full loss I know, I feel at last: | 10 | ·········· |
| Then I believed (ah! weak and idle creed!) | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| 'Twas but a part alone I lost; instead, | 10 | ····˘/··˘/ |
| Was there a hope that flew not with the blast? | 10 | ·········· |
| For, even then, it was in heaven ordain'd | 10 | ·/····/˘˘/ |
| That the sweet light of all my life should die: | 10 | ·········· |
| 'Twas written in her sadly-pensive eye! | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| But mine unconscious of the truth remain'd; | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Or, what it would not see, to see refrain'd, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| That I might sink in sudden misery! | 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.