Nott
Caesar, when Egypt's cringing traitor broughtThe gory gift of Pompey's honour'd head,Check'd the full gladness of his instant thought,And specious tears of well-feign'd pity shed:And Hannibal, when adverse Fortune wroughtOn his afflicted empire evils dread,'Mid shamed and sorrowing friends, by laughter, soughtTo ease the anger at his heart that fed.Thus, as the mind its every feeling hides,Beneath an aspect contrary, the mien,Bright'ning with hope or charged with gloom, is seen.Thus ever if I sing, or smile betides,The outward joy serves only to concealThe inner ail and anguish that I feel.
Words in this poem
- gory a.
- Covered with gore or clotted blood. [From Gore.]
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-11.html, id L14611.
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 89%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 29% 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 broughtA · headB · thoughtB · shedA · wroughtA · dreadB · soughtB · fedA · hidesC · mienD · seenC · betidesD · concealC · feelD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Caesar, when Egypt's cringing traitor brought | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘/˘· |
| The gory gift of Pompey's honour'd head, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Check'd the full gladness of his instant thought, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And specious tears of well-feign'd pity shed: | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And Hannibal, when adverse Fortune wrought | 10 | ·/˘˘·/·/˘· |
| On his afflicted empire evils dread, | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| 'Mid shamed and sorrowing friends, by laughter, sought | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| To ease the anger at his heart that fed. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Thus, as the mind its every feeling hides, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Beneath an aspect contrary, the mien, | 10 | ···/·/˘˘·· |
| Bright'ning with hope or charged with gloom, is seen. | 10 | ·········· |
| Thus ever if I sing, or smile betides, | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| The outward joy serves only to conceal | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| The inner ail and anguish that I feel. | 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.