On His Return to Vaucluse After Laura's Death
Valley, which long hast echoed with my cries;Stream, which my flowing tears have often fed;Beasts, fluttering birds, and ye who in the bedOf Cabrieres' wave display your speckled dyes;Air, hush'd to rest and soften'd by my sighs;Dear path, whose mazes lone and sad I tread;Hill of delight--though now delight is fled--To rove whose haunts Love still my foot decoys;Well I retain your old unchanging face!Myself how changed! in whom, for joy's light throng,Infinite woes their constant mansion find!Here bloom'd my bliss: and I your tracks retrace,To mark whence upward to her heaven she sprung,Leaving her beauteous spoil, her robe of flesh behind!
Words in this poem
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- mansion n.
- A dwelling place, -- whether a part or whole of a house or other shelter. [OF. mansion, F. maison, fr. L. mansio a staying, remaining, a dwelling, habitation, fr. manere, mansum, to stay, dwell; akin to Gr. Manse, Manor, Menagerie, Men]
- retrace v. t.
- To trace back, as a line. [Pref. re- + trace: cf. F. retracer. Cf. Retract.]
- beauteous a.
- Full of beauty; beautiful; very handsome. [Mostly poetic] -- Beau"te*ous*ly, adv. --
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On His Return to Vaucluse After Laura's Death 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, On His Return to Vaucluse After Laura's Death, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/on-his-return-to-vaucluse-after-laura-s-death.html, id L14895.
Form and metre
On His Return to Vaucluse After Laura's Death 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 87%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 7% 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 criesA · fedB · bedB · dyesA · sighsA · treadB · fledB · decoysA · faceC · throngD · findC · retraceD · sprungC · behindD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Valley, which long hast echoed with my cries; | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Stream, which my flowing tears have often fed; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Beasts, fluttering birds, and ye who in the bed | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Of Cabrieres' wave display your speckled dyes; | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| Air, hush'd to rest and soften'd by my sighs; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Dear path, whose mazes lone and sad I tread; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Hill of delight--though now delight is fled-- | 10 | ··˘/··˘/·· |
| To rove whose haunts Love still my foot decoys; | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Well I retain your old unchanging face! | 10 | ··˘/··˘/˘· |
| Myself how changed! in whom, for joy's light throng, | 10 | ·/········ |
| Infinite woes their constant mansion find! | 10 | /˘˘··/˘/˘· |
| Here bloom'd my bliss: and I your tracks retrace, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| To mark whence upward to her heaven she sprung, | 10 | ···/˘··/·· |
| Leaving her beauteous spoil, her robe of flesh behind! | 13 | /˘·/˘˘······· |
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.