He Seems to Be with Her in Heaven
So often on the wings of thought I flyUp to heaven's blissful seats, that I appearAs one of those whose treasure is lodged there,The rent veil of mortality thrown by.A pleasing chillness thrills my heart, while IListen to her voice, who bids me paleness wear--"Ah! now, my friend, I love thee, now revere,For changed thy face, thy manners," doth she cry.She leads me to her Lord: and then I bow,Preferring humble prayer, He would allowThat I his glorious face, and hers might see.Thus He replies: "Thy destiny's secure;To stay some twenty, or some ten years more,Is but a little space, though long it seems to thee."
Words in this poem
- blissful a.
- Full of, characterized by, or causing, joy and felicity; happy in the highest degree.
- mortality n.
- The condition or quality of being mortal; subjection to death or to the necessity of dying. [L. mortalitas: cf. F. mortalité.]
- chillness n.
- Coolness; coldness; a chill.
- revere v. t.
- To regard with reverence, or profound respect and affection, mingled with awe or fear; to venerate; to reverence; to honor in estimation. [L. revereri; pref. re- re- + vereri to fear, perh. akin to E. wary: cf. F. révérer.]
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
He Seems to Be with Her in 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 Seems to Be with Her in Heaven, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/he-seems-to-be-with-her-in-heaven.html, id L14987.
Form and metre
He Seems to Be with Her in 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 90%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.3 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 flyA · appearB · thereB · byA · iA · wearB · revereB · cryA · bowC · allowD · seeC · secureD · moreC · theeD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| So often on the wings of thought I fly | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Up to heaven's blissful seats, that I appear | 11 | ··/˘/˘···˘/ |
| As one of those whose treasure is lodged there, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The rent veil of mortality thrown by. | 10 | ····˘/˘˘·· |
| A pleasing chillness thrills my heart, while I | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Listen to her voice, who bids me paleness wear-- | 11 | /˘······/˘· |
| "Ah! now, my friend, I love thee, now revere, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| For changed thy face, thy manners," doth she cry. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| She leads me to her Lord: and then I bow, | 10 | ·········· |
| Preferring humble prayer, He would allow | 10 | ˘/˘/˘···˘/ |
| That I his glorious face, and hers might see. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Thus He replies: "Thy destiny's secure; | 10 | ··˘/·/˘˘˘/ |
| To stay some twenty, or some ten years more, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Is but a little space, though long it seems to thee." | 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.