How He Became the Victim of Love
For many a crime at once to make me smart,And a delicious vengeance to obtain,Love secretly took up his bow again,As one who acts the cunning coward's part;My courage had retired within my heart,There to defend the pass bright eyes might gain;When his dread archery was pour'd amainWhere blunted erst had fallen every dart.Scared at the sudden brisk attack, I foundNor time, nor vigour to repel the foeWith weapons suited to the direful need;No kind protection of rough rising ground,Where from defeat I might securely speed,Which fain I would e'en now, but ah, no method know!
Words in this poem
- amain adv.
- With might; with full force; vigorously; violently; exceedingly. [Pref. a- + main. See 2d Main, n.]
- vigour v. t.
- To invigorate. Feltham.
- direful a.
- Dire; dreadful; terrible; calamitous; woeful; as, a direful fiend; a direful day. [Dire + -ful.]
- defeat v. t.
- To undo; to disfigure; to destroy. [From F. défait, OF. desfait, p. p. ofe défaire, OF. desfaire, to undo; L. dis- + facere to do. See Feat, Fact, and cf. Disfashion.]
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
How He Became the Victim of Love 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, How He Became the Victim of Love, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/how-he-became-the-victim-of-love.html, id L14461.
Form and metre
How He Became the Victim of Love 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 10.1 syllables. 21% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end. Rhymes that have moved apart since the poem was written: beam / flame, fly / joy, eye / joy, hour / pour, love / remove and 8 more.
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 smartA · obtainB · againB · partA · heartA · gainB · amainB · dartA · foundC · foeD · needC · groundD · speedC · knowD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| For many a crime at once to make me smart, | 10 | ·/········ |
| And a delicious vengeance to obtain, | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Love secretly took up his bow again, | 10 | ·/˘˘····˘/ |
| As one who acts the cunning coward's part; | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| My courage had retired within my heart, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| There to defend the pass bright eyes might gain; | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| When his dread archery was pour'd amain | 10 | ···/˘˘··˘/ |
| Where blunted erst had fallen every dart. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Scared at the sudden brisk attack, I found | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| Nor time, nor vigour to repel the foe | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| With weapons suited to the direful need; | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| No kind protection of rough rising ground, | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Where from defeat I might securely speed, | 10 | ··˘/··˘/˘· |
| Which fain I would e'en now, but ah, no method know! | 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.