Nott
Yes, from those finest eyes, that face most sweetThat ever shone, and from that loveliest hair,With which nor gold nor sunbeam may compare,That speech with love, that smile with grace replete,From those soft hands, those white arms which defeat.Themselves unmoved, the stoutest hearts that e'erTo Love were rebels; from those feet so fair,From her whole form, for Eden only meet,My spirit took its life--now these delightThe King of Heaven and his angelic train,While, blind and naked, I am left in night.One only balm expect I 'mid my pain--That she, mine every thought who now can see,May win this grace--that I with her may be.
Words in this poem
- sunbeam n.
- A beam or ray of the sun. [AS. sunnebeam.]
- replete a.
- Filled again; completely filled; full; charged; abounding. [L. repletus, p. p. of replere to fill again, fill up; pref. re- re- + plere to fill, akin to plenus full: cf. F. replet corpulent. See Plenty, Replenish.]
- 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.]
- unmoved a.
- Not moved; fixed; firm; unshaken; calm; apathetic.
- eden n.
- The garden where Adam and Eve first dwelt; hence, a delightful region or residence. [Heb. eden delight, pleasure; also, a place of pleasure, Eden.]
- expect v. t.
- To wait for; to await. [L. expectatum, to look out for, await, expect; ex + out spectare to look at. See Spectacle.]
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-38.html, id L14977.
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 92%). 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 sweetA · hairB · compareB · repleteA · defeatA · e'erB · fairB · meetA · delightC · trainD · nightC · painD · seeC · beD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Yes, from those finest eyes, that face most sweet | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| That ever shone, and from that loveliest hair, | 10 | ·/········ |
| With which nor gold nor sunbeam may compare, | 10 | ·····/··˘/ |
| That speech with love, that smile with grace replete, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| From those soft hands, those white arms which defeat. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Themselves unmoved, the stoutest hearts that e'er | 10 | ˘/˘/·/˘··· |
| To Love were rebels; from those feet so fair, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| From her whole form, for Eden only meet, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| My spirit took its life--now these delight | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| The King of Heaven and his angelic train, | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| While, blind and naked, I am left in night. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| One only balm expect I 'mid my pain-- | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| That she, mine every thought who now can see, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| May win this grace--that I with her may be. | 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.