He Prays Laura to Look Down upon Him from Heaven
Bright spirit, from those earthly bonds released,The loveliest ever wove in Nature's loom,From thy bright skies compassionate the gloomShrouding my life that once of joy could taste!Each false suggestion of thy heart has ceased,That whilom bade thee stem disdain assume;Now, all secure, heaven's habitant become,List to my sighs, thy looks upon me cast.Mark the huge rock, whence Sorga's waters rise;And see amidst its waves and borders strayOne fed by grief and memory that ne'er diesBut from that spot, oh! turn thy sight awayWhere I first loved, where thy late dwelling lies;That in thy friends thou nought ungrateful may'st survey!
Words in this poem
- wove
- p. pr. & rare vb. n. of Weave.
- shrouding n.
- The shrouds. See Shroud, n., 7.
- whilom adv.
- Formerly; once; of old; erewhile; at times. [AS. hwilum, properly, at times, dative pl. of hwil; akin to G. weiland formerly, OHG. hwilm, See While, n.]
- bade
- A form of the pat tense of Bid.
- habitant n.
- An inhabitant; a dweller. Milton. [F. habitant. See Habit, v.t]
- amidst 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]
- ungrateful a.
- Not grateful; not thankful for favors; making no returns, or making ill return for kindness, attention, etc.; ingrateful. South.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
He Prays Laura to Look Down upon Him from Heaven 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 Prays Laura to Look Down upon Him from Heaven, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/he-prays-laura-to-look-down-upon-him-from-heaven.html, id L14902.
Form and metre
He Prays Laura to Look Down upon Him from Heaven 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 88%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 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 releasedA · loomB · gloomB · tasteA · ceasedA · assumeB · becomeB · castA · riseC · strayD · diesC · awayD · liesC · surveyD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Bright spirit, from those earthly bonds released, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| The loveliest ever wove in Nature's loom, | 10 | ····/··/˘· |
| From thy bright skies compassionate the gloom | 10 | ····˘/˘˘·· |
| Shrouding my life that once of joy could taste! | 10 | /˘········ |
| Each false suggestion of thy heart has ceased, | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| That whilom bade thee stem disdain assume; | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘/ |
| Now, all secure, heaven's habitant become, | 11 | ··˘//˘···˘/ |
| List to my sighs, thy looks upon me cast. | 10 | ·········· |
| Mark the huge rock, whence Sorga's waters rise; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And see amidst its waves and borders stray | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| One fed by grief and memory that ne'er dies | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| But from that spot, oh! turn thy sight away | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Where I first loved, where thy late dwelling lies; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| That in thy friends thou nought ungrateful may'st survey! | 12 | ······˘/˘·˘/ |
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.