He Recalls Her as He Saw Her When in Tears
That ever-painful, ever-honour'd daySo left her living image on my heartBeyond or lover's wit or poet's art,That oft to it will doting memory stray.A gentle pity softening her bright mien,Her sorrow there so sweet and sad was heard,Doubt in the gazer's bosom almost stirr'dGoddess or mortal, which made heaven serene.Fine gold her hair, her face as sunlit snow,Her brows and lashes jet, twin stars her eyne,Whence the young archer oft took fatal aim;Each loving lip--whence, utterance sweet and lowHer pent grief found--a rose which rare pearls line,Her tears of crystal and her sighs of flame.
Words in this poem
- doting a.
- That dotes; silly; excessively fond.
- sunlit a.
- Lighted by the sun.
- eyne n.
- Plural of eye; obsolete, or used only in poetry.
- pent p. p.
- Penned or shut up; confined; -- often with up. [From Pen, v. t.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
He Recalls Her as He Saw Her When in Tears 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 Recalls Her as He Saw Her When in Tears, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/he-recalls-her-as-he-saw-her-when-in-tears.html, id L14684.
Form and metre
He Recalls Her as He Saw Her When in Tears 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%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 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 dayA · heartB · artB · strayA · mienA · heardB · stirr'dB · sereneA · snowC · eyneD · aimC · lowD · lineC · flameD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| That ever-painful, ever-honour'd day | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| So left her living image on my heart | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Beyond or lover's wit or poet's art, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| That oft to it will doting memory stray. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| A gentle pity softening her bright mien, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Her sorrow there so sweet and sad was heard, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Doubt in the gazer's bosom almost stirr'd | 10 | ·····/˘/·· |
| Goddess or mortal, which made heaven serene. | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘/ |
| Fine gold her hair, her face as sunlit snow, | 10 | ·······/·· |
| Her brows and lashes jet, twin stars her eyne, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Whence the young archer oft took fatal aim; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Each loving lip--whence, utterance sweet and low | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Her pent grief found--a rose which rare pearls line, | 10 | ·········· |
| Her tears of crystal and her sighs of flame. | 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.