Nott
Ye, who may listen to each idle strainBearing those sighs, on which my heart was fedIn life's first morn, by youthful error led,(Far other then from what I now remain!)That thus in varying numbers I complain,Numbers of sorrow vain and vain hope bred,If any in love's lore be practised,His pardon,--e'en his pity I may obtain:But now aware that to mankind my nameToo long has been a bye-word and a scorn,I blush before my own severer thought;Of my past wanderings the sole fruit is shame,And deep repentance, of the knowledge bornThat all we value in this world is naught.
Words in this poem
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
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.html, id L14460.
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 83%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 29% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end. Rhymes that have moved apart since the poem was written: flown / gone, dead / desire, been / keen.
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 strainA · fedB · ledB · remainA · complainA · bredB · practisedB · obtainA · nameC · scornD · thoughtC · shameD · bornC · naughtD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ye, who may listen to each idle strain | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Bearing those sighs, on which my heart was fed | 10 | /˘········ |
| In life's first morn, by youthful error led, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| (Far other then from what I now remain!) | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| That thus in varying numbers I complain, | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Numbers of sorrow vain and vain hope bred, | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| If any in love's lore be practised, | 10 | ·/˘······˘ |
| His pardon,--e'en his pity I may obtain: | 11 | ·/˘··/˘··˘/ |
| But now aware that to mankind my name | 10 | ··˘/··//·· |
| Too long has been a bye-word and a scorn, | 10 | ·········· |
| I blush before my own severer thought; | 10 | ·········· |
| Of my past wanderings the sole fruit is shame, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And deep repentance, of the knowledge born | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| That all we value in this world is naught. | 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.