Nott
Ye damsels, pour your tears! weep with you. Love!Weep, all ye lovers, through the peopled sphere!Since he is dead who, while he linger'd here,With all his might to do you honour strove.For me, this tyrant grief my prayers shall moveNot to contest the comfort of a tear,Nor check those sighs, that to my heart are dear,Since ease from them alone it hopes to prove.Ye verses, weep!--ye rhymes, your woes renew!For Cino, master of the love-fraught lay,E'en now is from our fond embraces torn!Pistoia, weep, and all your thankless crew!Your sweetest inmate now is reft away--But, heaven, rejoice, and hail your son new-born!
Words in this poem
- peopled a.
- Stocked with, or as with, people; inhabited.
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
- 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,]
- fraught n.
- A freight; a cargo. [OE.fraight, fraght; akin to Dan. fragt, Sw. frakt, D. vracht, G. fracht, cf. OHG. fr merit, reward; perh. from corresponding to E. for + The root of E. own. Cf.]
- thankless a.
- Not acknowledging favors; not expressing thankfulness; unthankful; ungrateful.
- reft n.
- A chink; a rift. See Rift. Rom. of R.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Nott 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, Nott, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/nott-10.html, id L14596.
Form and metre
Nott 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 91%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 syllables. 7% 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 loveA · sphereB · hereB · stroveA · moveA · tearB · dearB · proveA · renewC · layD · tornC · crewD · awayC · bornD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ye damsels, pour your tears! weep with you. Love! | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Weep, all ye lovers, through the peopled sphere! | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Since he is dead who, while he linger'd here, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| With all his might to do you honour strove. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| For me, this tyrant grief my prayers shall move | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Not to contest the comfort of a tear, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| Nor check those sighs, that to my heart are dear, | 10 | ·········· |
| Since ease from them alone it hopes to prove. | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Ye verses, weep!--ye rhymes, your woes renew! | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| For Cino, master of the love-fraught lay, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| E'en now is from our fond embraces torn! | 10 | ····/·˘/˘· |
| Pistoia, weep, and all your thankless crew! | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Your sweetest inmate now is reft away-- | 10 | ·/˘/····˘/ |
| But, heaven, rejoice, and hail your son new-born! | 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.