Nott
Still have I sought a life of solitude--This know the rivers, and each wood and plain--That I might 'scape the blind and sordid trainWho from the path have flown of peace and good:Could I my wish obtain, how vainly wouldThis cloudless climate woo me to remain;Sorga's embowering woods I'd seek again,And sing, weep, wander, by its friendly flood.But, ah! my fortune, hostile still to me,Compels me where I must, indignant, findAmid the mire my fairest treasure thrown:Yet to my hand, not all unworthy, sheNow proves herself, at least for once, more kind,Since--but alone to Love and Laura be it known.
Words in this poem
- sordid a.
- Filthy; foul; dirty. [L. sordidus, fr. sordere to be filthy or dirty; probably akin to E. swart: cf. F. sordide. See Swart, a.]
- flown a.
- Flushed, inflated.
- cloudless a.
- Without a cloud; clear; bright.
- indignant a.
- Affected with indignation; wrathful; passionate; irate; feeling wrath, as when a person is exasperated by unworthy or unjust treatment, by a mean action, or by a degrading accusation. [L. indignans, -antis, p. pr. of indignari to be indignant, disdain. See Indign.]
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- laura n.
- A number of hermitages or cells in the same neighborhood occupied by anchorites who were under the same superior. C. Kingsley.
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-28.html, id L14829.
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 94%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 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 solitudeA · plainB · trainB · goodA · wouldA · remainB · againB · floodA · meC · findD · thrownC · sheD · kindC · knownD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Still have I sought a life of solitude-- | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| This know the rivers, and each wood and plain-- | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| That I might 'scape the blind and sordid train | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Who from the path have flown of peace and good: | 10 | ·········· |
| Could I my wish obtain, how vainly would | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| This cloudless climate woo me to remain; | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| Sorga's embowering woods I'd seek again, | 11 | ·········˘/ |
| And sing, weep, wander, by its friendly flood. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| But, ah! my fortune, hostile still to me, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Compels me where I must, indignant, find | 10 | ˘/····˘/˘· |
| Amid the mire my fairest treasure thrown: | 10 | ˘/···/˘/˘· |
| Yet to my hand, not all unworthy, she | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Now proves herself, at least for once, more kind, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Since--but alone to Love and Laura be it known. | 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.