He Wonders at His Long Endurance of Such Toil and Suffering
I weary me alway with questions keenHow, why my thoughts ne'er turn from you away,Wherefore in life they still prefer to stay,When they might flee this sad and painful scene,And how of the fine hair, the lovely mien,Of the bright eyes which all my feelings sway,Calling on your dear name by night and day,My tongue ne'er silent in their praise has been,And how my feet not tender are, nor tired,Pursuing still with many a useless paceOf your fair footsteps the elastic trace;And whence the ink, the paper whence acquired,Fill'd with your memories: if in this I err,Not art's defect but Love's own fault it were.
Words in this poem
- wherefore adv.
- For which reason; so; -- used relatively. [Where + for.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
He Wonders at His Long Endurance of Such Toil and Suffering 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 Wonders at His Long Endurance of Such Toil and Suffering, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/he-wonders-at-his-long-endurance-of-such-toil-and-suffering.html, id L14571.
Form and metre
He Wonders at His Long Endurance of Such Toil and Suffering 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 85%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 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 keenA · awayB · stayB · sceneA · mienA · swayB · dayB · beenA · tiredC · paceD · traceC · acquiredD · errC · wereD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I weary me alway with questions keen | 10 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘· |
| How, why my thoughts ne'er turn from you away, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Wherefore in life they still prefer to stay, | 10 | /˘····˘/·· |
| When they might flee this sad and painful scene, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And how of the fine hair, the lovely mien, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Of the bright eyes which all my feelings sway, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Calling on your dear name by night and day, | 10 | /˘········ |
| My tongue ne'er silent in their praise has been, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And how my feet not tender are, nor tired, | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Pursuing still with many a useless pace | 10 | ˘/˘··/·/˘· |
| Of your fair footsteps the elastic trace; | 10 | ···/··˘/˘· |
| And whence the ink, the paper whence acquired, | 11 | ·····/˘·˘/˘ |
| Fill'd with your memories: if in this I err, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Not art's defect but Love's own fault it were. | 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.