On the Death of Cino Da Pistoia
Weep, beauteous damsels, and let Cupid weep,Of every region weep, ye lover train;He, who so skilfully attuned his strainTo your fond cause, is sunk in death's cold sleep!Such limits let not my affliction keep,As may the solace of soft tears restrain;And, to relieve my bosom of its pain,Be all my sighs tumultuous, utter'd deep!Let song itself, and votaries of verse,Breathe mournful accents o'er our Cino's bier,Who late is gone to number with the blest!Oh! weep, Pistoia, weep your sons perverse;Its choicest habitant has fled our sphere,And heaven may glory in its welcome guest!
Words in this poem
- beauteous a.
- Full of beauty; beautiful; very handsome. [Mostly poetic] -- Beau"te*ous*ly, adv. --
- cupid
- The god of love, son of Venus; usually represented as a naked, winged boy with bow and arrow. [L.Cupido, fr. cupido desire, desire of love, fr. cupidus. See Cupidity.]
- solace n.
- Comfort in grief; alleviation of grief or anxiety; also, that which relieves in distress; that which cheers or consoles; relief. [OF. solas, ssoulaz, L. solacium, solatium, fr. solari to comfort, console. Cf. Console, v. t.]
- relieve v. t.
- To lift up; to raise again, as one who has fallen; to cause to rise. Piers Plowman. [OE. releven, F. relever to raise again, discharge, relieve, fr. L. relevare to lift up, raise, make light, relieve; pref. re- re- + levare to raise, fr. levis l]
- bier n.
- A handbarrow or portable frame on which a corpse is placed or borne to the grave. [OE. bæe, beere, AS. b, b; akin to D. baar, OHG. bara, G. bahre, Icel barar, Dbaare, L. feretrum, Gr. , from the same bear to produce. See 1st Bear, and cf. Barr]
- habitant n.
- An inhabitant; a dweller. Milton. [F. habitant. See Habit, v.t]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On the Death of Cino Da Pistoia 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 the Death of Cino Da Pistoia, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/on-the-death-of-cino-da-pistoia.html, id L14595.
Form and metre
On the Death of Cino Da Pistoia 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 90%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 syllables. 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 weepA · trainB · strainB · sleepA · keepA · restrainB · painB · deepA · verseC · bierD · blestC · perverseD · sphereC · guestD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Weep, beauteous damsels, and let Cupid weep, | 11 | ·/˘˘/˘··/˘· |
| Of every region weep, ye lover train; | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| He, who so skilfully attuned his strain | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| To your fond cause, is sunk in death's cold sleep! | 10 | ·········· |
| Such limits let not my affliction keep, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| As may the solace of soft tears restrain; | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| And, to relieve my bosom of its pain, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| Be all my sighs tumultuous, utter'd deep! | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Let song itself, and votaries of verse, | 9 | ··˘/····· |
| Breathe mournful accents o'er our Cino's bier, | 10 | ·/˘/˘·//˘· |
| Who late is gone to number with the blest! | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Oh! weep, Pistoia, weep your sons perverse; | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| Its choicest habitant has fled our sphere, | 10 | ·/˘·····/· |
| And heaven may glory in its welcome guest! | 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.