He Seeks Solitude, but Love Follows Him Everywhere
Alone, and lost in thought, the desert gladeMeasuring I roam with ling'ring steps and slow;And still a watchful glance around me throw,Anxious to shun the print of human tread:No other means I find, no surer aidFrom the world's prying eye to hide my woe:So well my wild disorder'd gestures show,And love lorn looks, the fire within me bred,That well I deem each mountain, wood and plain,And river knows, what I from man conceal,What dreary hues my life's fond prospects dim.Yet whate'er wild or savage paths I've ta'en,Where'er I wander, love attends me still,Soft whisp'ring to my soul, and I to him.
Words in this poem
- glade n.
- An open passage through a wood; a grassy open or cleared space in a forest. [Prob. of Scand. origin, and akin to glad, a.; cf. also W. golead, goleuad, a lighting, illumination, fr. goleu light, clear, bright, goleu fwlch glade, lit., a ]
- prying a.
- Inspecting closely or impertinently.
- lorn a.
- Lost; undone; ruined. [Strong p. p. of Lose. See Lose, Forlorn.]
- deem v. t.
- To decide; to judge; to sentence; to condemn. [OE. demen to judge, condemn, AS. d, fr. d doom; akin to OFries. d, OS. ad, D. doemen, OHG. tuommen, Icel. dæma, Sw. dömma, Dan. dömme, Goth. d. See Doom, n., an]
- dreary a.
- Sorrowful; distressful. [OE. dreori, dreri, AS. dreórig, sad; akin to G. traurig, and prob. to AS. dreósan to fall, Goth. driusan. Cf. Dross, Drear, Drizzle, Drowse.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
He Seeks Solitude, but Love Follows Him Everywhere 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 Seeks Solitude, but Love Follows Him Everywhere, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/he-seeks-solitude-but-love-follows-him-everywhere.html, id L14518.
Form and metre
He Seeks Solitude, but Love Follows Him Everywhere 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%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 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 gladeA · slowB · throwB · treadA · aidA · woeB · showB · bredA · plainC · concealD · dimC · ta'enD · stillC · himD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Alone, and lost in thought, the desert glade | 10 | ˘/·····/˘· |
| Measuring I roam with ling'ring steps and slow; | 10 | /˘········ |
| And still a watchful glance around me throw, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Anxious to shun the print of human tread: | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| No other means I find, no surer aid | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| From the world's prying eye to hide my woe: | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| So well my wild disorder'd gestures show, | 10 | ····˘/˘/˘· |
| And love lorn looks, the fire within me bred, | 10 | ·····/···· |
| That well I deem each mountain, wood and plain, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And river knows, what I from man conceal, | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| What dreary hues my life's fond prospects dim. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Yet whate'er wild or savage paths I've ta'en, | 11 | ·˘˘/··/˘··· |
| Where'er I wander, love attends me still, | 11 | ˘˘/·/˘·˘/·· |
| Soft whisp'ring to my soul, and I to him. | 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.