Her Walk, Looks, Words, and Air
As o'er the fresh grass her fair form its sweetAnd graceful passage makes at evening hours,Seems as around the newly-wakening flowersFound virtue issue from her delicate feet.Love, which in true hearts only has his seat,Nor elsewhere deigns to prove his certain powers,So warm a pleasure from her bright eyes showers,No other bliss I ask, no better meat.And with her soft look and light step agreeHer mild and modest, never eager air,And sweetest words in constant union rare.From these four sparks--nor only these we see--Springs the great fire wherein I live and burn,Which makes me from the sun as night-birds turn.
Words in this poem
- wakening n.
- The act of one who wakens; esp., the act of ceasing to sleep; an awakening.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Her Walk, Looks, Words, and Air 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, Her Walk, Looks, Words, and Air, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/her-walk-looks-words-and-air.html, id L14697.
Form and metre
Her Walk, Looks, Words, and Air 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 87%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 21% 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 sweetA · hoursB · flowersB · feetA · seatA · powersB · showersB · meatA · agreeC · airD · rareC · seeD · burnC · turnD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| As o'er the fresh grass her fair form its sweet | 10 | ·········· |
| And graceful passage makes at evening hours, | 11 | ·/˘/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Seems as around the newly-wakening flowers | 10 | ·····/˘/˘/ |
| Found virtue issue from her delicate feet. | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Love, which in true hearts only has his seat, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Nor elsewhere deigns to prove his certain powers, | 11 | ·/·····/˘/˘ |
| So warm a pleasure from her bright eyes showers, | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| No other bliss I ask, no better meat. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And with her soft look and light step agree | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Her mild and modest, never eager air, | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| And sweetest words in constant union rare. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| From these four sparks--nor only these we see-- | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Springs the great fire wherein I live and burn, | 10 | ···/······ |
| Which makes me from the sun as night-birds turn. | 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.