His Heart Lies Tangled in Her Hair
The pleasant gale, that to the sun unplaitsAnd spreads the gold Love's fingers weave, and braidO'er her fine eyes, and all around her head,Fetters my heart, the wishful sigh creates:No nerve but thrills, no artery but beats,Approaching my fair arbiter with dread,Who in her doubtful scale hath ofttimes weigh'dWhether or death or life on me awaits;Beholding, too, those eyes their fires display,And on those shoulders shine such wreaths of hair,Whose witching tangles my poor heart ensnare.But how this magic's wrought I cannot say;For twofold radiance doth my reason blind,And sweetness to excess palls and o'erpowers my mind.
Words in this poem
- wishful a.
- Having desire, or ardent desire; longing. [Cf. Wistful.]
- ofttimes adv.
- Frequently; often. [Oft + time. Cf. -wards.]
- beholding a.
- Obliged; beholden.
- witching a.
- That witches or enchants; suited to enchantment or witchcraft; bewitching.
- ensnare v. t.
- To catch in a snare. See Insnare.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
His Heart Lies Tangled in Her Hair 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, His Heart Lies Tangled in Her Hair, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/his-heart-lies-tangled-in-her-hair.html, id L14746.
Form and metre
His Heart Lies Tangled in Her Hair 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%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 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 unplaitsA · braidB · headB · createsA · beatsA · dreadB · weigh'dB · awaitsA · displayC · hairD · ensnareC · sayD · blindC · mindD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The pleasant gale, that to the sun unplaits | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And spreads the gold Love's fingers weave, and braid | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| O'er her fine eyes, and all around her head, | 10 | ·········· |
| Fetters my heart, the wishful sigh creates: | 10 | /˘···/˘·˘/ |
| No nerve but thrills, no artery but beats, | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| Approaching my fair arbiter with dread, | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘˘·· |
| Who in her doubtful scale hath ofttimes weigh'd | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Whether or death or life on me awaits; | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Beholding, too, those eyes their fires display, | 10 | ˘/˘····/˘/ |
| And on those shoulders shine such wreaths of hair, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Whose witching tangles my poor heart ensnare. | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| But how this magic's wrought I cannot say; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| For twofold radiance doth my reason blind, | 10 | ·///˘··/˘· |
| And sweetness to excess palls and o'erpowers my mind. | 13 | ·/˘·˘/······· |
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.