Nott
Her golden tresses to the gale were streaming,That in a thousand knots did them entwine,And the sweet rays which now so rarely shineFrom her enchanting eyes, were brightly beaming,And--was it fancy?--o'er that dear face gleamingMethought I saw Compassion's tint divine;What marvel that this ardent heart of mineBlazed swiftly forth, impatient of Love's dreaming?There was nought mortal in her stately treadBut grace angelic, and her speech awokeThan human voices a far loftier sound,A spirit of heaven,--a living sun she brokeUpon my sight;--what if these charms be fled?--The slackening of the bow heals not the wound.
Words in this poem
- streaming a.
- Sending forth streams.
- entwine v. t.
- To twine, twist, or wreathe together or round. [Pref. en- + twine. Cf. Intwine.]
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
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-9.html, id L14592.
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 10.3 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 43% 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 streamingA · entwineB · shineB · beamingA · gleamingA · divineB · mineB · dreamingA · treadC · awokeD · soundC · brokeD · fledC · woundD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Her golden tresses to the gale were streaming, | 11 | ·/˘/˘····/˘ |
| That in a thousand knots did them entwine, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| And the sweet rays which now so rarely shine | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| From her enchanting eyes, were brightly beaming, | 11 | ··˘/˘··/˘/˘ |
| And--was it fancy?--o'er that dear face gleaming | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| Methought I saw Compassion's tint divine; | 10 | ˘/··˘/˘·˘/ |
| What marvel that this ardent heart of mine | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Blazed swiftly forth, impatient of Love's dreaming? | 11 | ·/˘·˘/˘··/˘ |
| There was nought mortal in her stately tread | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| But grace angelic, and her speech awoke | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Than human voices a far loftier sound, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| A spirit of heaven,--a living sun she broke | 10 | ·/·/·/˘··· |
| Upon my sight;--what if these charms be fled?-- | 10 | ·········· |
| The slackening of the bow heals not the wound. | 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.