Nott
When Phoebus lashes to the western mainHis fiery steeds, and shades the lurid air;Grief shades my soul, my night is spent in care;Yon moon, yon stars, yon heaven begin my pain.Wretch that I am! full oft I urge in vainTo heedless beings all those pangs I bear;Of the false world, of an unpitying fair,Of Love, and fickle fortune I complain!From eve's last glance, till morning's earliest ray,Sleep shuns my couch; rest quits my tearful eye;And my rack'd breast heaves many a plaintive sigh.Then bright Aurora cheers the rising day,But cheers not me--for to my sorrowing heartOne sun alone can cheering light impart!
Words in this poem
- phoebus n.
- Apollo; the sun god.
- lurid a.
- Pale yellow; ghastly pale; wan; gloomy; dismal. [L. luridus.]
- tearful a.
- Abounding with tears; weeping; shedding tears; as, tearful eyes.
- heaves n.
- A disease of horses, characterized by difficult breathing, with heaving of the flank, wheezing, flatulency, and a peculiar cough; broken wind.
- aurora n.
- The rising light of the morning; the dawn of day; the redness of the sky just before the sun rises. [L. aurora, for ausosa, akin to Gr. ushas, and E. east.]
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-27.html, id L14781.
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 88%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 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 mainA · airB · careB · painA · vainA · bearB · fairB · complainA · rayC · eyeD · sighC · dayD · heartC · impartD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When Phoebus lashes to the western main | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| His fiery steeds, and shades the lurid air; | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Grief shades my soul, my night is spent in care; | 10 | ·········· |
| Yon moon, yon stars, yon heaven begin my pain. | 10 | ·····/˘/·· |
| Wretch that I am! full oft I urge in vain | 10 | ·········· |
| To heedless beings all those pangs I bear; | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Of the false world, of an unpitying fair, | 10 | ·········· |
| Of Love, and fickle fortune I complain! | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| From eve's last glance, till morning's earliest ray, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Sleep shuns my couch; rest quits my tearful eye; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And my rack'd breast heaves many a plaintive sigh. | 10 | ·····/·/˘· |
| Then bright Aurora cheers the rising day, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| But cheers not me--for to my sorrowing heart | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| One sun alone can cheering light impart! | 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.