His Invincible Constancy
Place me where herb and flower the sun has dried,Or where numb winter's grasp holds sterner sway:Place me where Phoebus sheds a temperate ray,Where first he glows, where rests at eventide.Place me in lowly state, in power and pride,Where lour the skies, or where bland zephyrs playPlace me where blind night rules, or lengthened day,In age mature, or in youth's boiling tide:Place me in heaven, or in the abyss profound,On lofty height, or in low vale obscure,A spirit freed, or to the body bound;Bank'd with the great, or all unknown to fame,I still the same will be! the same endure!And my trilustral sighs still breathe the same!
Place me where Phoebus burns each herb, each flower;Or where cold snows, and frost o'ercome his rays:Place me where rolls his car with temp'rate blaze;In climes that feel not, or that feel his power.Place me where fortune may look bright, or lour;Mid murky airs, or where soft zephyr plays:Place me in night, in long or short-lived days,Where age makes sad, or youth gilds ev'ry hour:Place me on mountains high, in vallies drear,In heaven, on earth, in depths unknown to-day;Whether life fosters still, or flies this clay:Place me where fame is distant, where she's near:Still will I love; nor shall those sighs yet cease,Which thrice five years have robb'd this breast of peace.
Place me where angry Titan burns the Moor,And thirsty Afric fiery monsters brings,Or where the new-born phoenix spreads her wings,And troops of wond'ring birds her flight adore:Place me by Gange, or Ind's empamper'd shore,Where smiling heavens on earth cause double springs:Place me where Neptune's quire of Syrens sings,Or where, made hoarse through cold, he leaves to roar:Me place where Fortune doth her darlings crown,A wonder or a spark in Envy's eye,Or late outrageous fates upon me frown,And pity wailing, see disaster'd me.Affection's print my mind so deep doth prove,I may forget myself, but not my love.
Words in this poem
- sterner n.
- A director. Dr. R. Clerke. [See 3d Stern.]
- phoebus n.
- Apollo; the sun god.
- eventide n.
- The time of evening; evening. [AS. æfentid. See Tide.]
- lour n.
- An Asiatic sardine (Clupea Neohowii), valued for its oil. [Native name.]
- vale n.
- A tract of low ground, or of land between hills; a valley. [OE. val, F. val, L. vallis; perhaps akin to Gr. Avalanche, Vail to lower, Valley.]
- zephyr n.
- The west wind; poetically, any soft, gentle breeze. [L. zephyrus, Gr. zéphyr.]
- drear n.
- Sadness; dismalness.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- angry a.
- Troublesome; vexatious; rigorous. [See Anger.]
- adore v. t.
- To worship with profound reverence; to pay divine honors to; to honor as deity or as divine. [OE. aouren, anouren, adoren, OF. aorer, adorer, F. adorer, fr. L. adorare; ad + orare to speak, pray, os, oris, mouth. In OE. confused with honor, the French pr]
- gange v. t.
- To protect (the part of a line next a fishhook, or the hook itself) by winding it with wire.
- quire v. i.
- To sing in concert.
- outrageous a.
- Of the nature of an outrage; exceeding the limits of right, reason, or decency; involving or doing an outrage; furious; violent; atrocious. [OF. outrageus, F. outrageux. See Outrage, n.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
His Invincible Constancy 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 Invincible Constancy, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/his-invincible-constancy.html, id L18601.
Form and metre
His Invincible Constancy is 42 lines in 3 stanzas of 14 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABBAABBACDCDCD, the Italian sonnet. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
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 driedA · swayB · rayB · eventideA · prideA · playB · dayB · tideA · profoundC · obscureD · boundC · fameD · endureC · sameD
- 2 ABBAABBACDCDCD flowerA · raysB · blazeB · powerA · lourA · playsB · daysB · hourA · drearC · dayD · clayC · nearD · ceaseC · peaceD
- 3 ABBAABBACDCDCD moorA · bringsB · wingsB · adoreA · shoreA · springsB · singsB · roarA · crownC · eyeD · frownC · meD · proveC · loveD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Place me where herb and flower the sun has dried, | 10 | ·····/···· |
| Or where numb winter's grasp holds sterner sway: | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Place me where Phoebus sheds a temperate ray, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Where first he glows, where rests at eventide. | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Place me in lowly state, in power and pride, | 10 | ···/˘··/·· |
| Where lour the skies, or where bland zephyrs play | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Place me where blind night rules, or lengthened day, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| In age mature, or in youth's boiling tide: | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| Place me in heaven, or in the abyss profound, | 11 | ···/···˘/˘/ |
| On lofty height, or in low vale obscure, | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| A spirit freed, or to the body bound; | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Bank'd with the great, or all unknown to fame, | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| I still the same will be! the same endure! | 10 | ········˘/ |
| And my trilustral sighs still breathe the same! | 10 | ·········· |
| Place me where Phoebus burns each herb, each flower; | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| Or where cold snows, and frost o'ercome his rays: | 10 | ·········· |
| Place me where rolls his car with temp'rate blaze; | 10 | ·········· |
| In climes that feel not, or that feel his power. | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Place me where fortune may look bright, or lour; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Mid murky airs, or where soft zephyr plays: | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Place me in night, in long or short-lived days, | 10 | ·········· |
| Where age makes sad, or youth gilds ev'ry hour: | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Place me on mountains high, in vallies drear, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| In heaven, on earth, in depths unknown to-day; | 10 | ·/····˘/·· |
| Whether life fosters still, or flies this clay: | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Place me where fame is distant, where she's near: | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Still will I love; nor shall those sighs yet cease, | 10 | ·········· |
| Which thrice five years have robb'd this breast of peace. | 10 | ·········· |
| Place me where angry Titan burns the Moor, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| And thirsty Afric fiery monsters brings, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| Or where the new-born phoenix spreads her wings, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And troops of wond'ring birds her flight adore: | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Place me by Gange, or Ind's empamper'd shore, | 10 | ·········· |
| Where smiling heavens on earth cause double springs: | 11 | ·/˘/˘···/˘· |
| Place me where Neptune's quire of Syrens sings, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Or where, made hoarse through cold, he leaves to roar: | 10 | ·········· |
| Me place where Fortune doth her darlings crown, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| A wonder or a spark in Envy's eye, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Or late outrageous fates upon me frown, | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| And pity wailing, see disaster'd me. | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Affection's print my mind so deep doth prove, | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| I may forget myself, but not my love. | 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.