Sonnet CCI
A kingly nature, an angelic mind,A spotless soul, prompt aspect and keen eye,Quick penetration, contemplation highAnd truly worthy of the breast which shrined:In bright assembly lovely ladies join'dTo grace that festival with gratulant joy,Amid so many and fair faces nighSoon his good judgment did the fairest find.Of riper age and higher rank the restGently he beckon'd with his hand aside,And lovingly drew near the perfect ONE:So courteously her eyes and brow he press'd,All at his choice in fond approval vied--Envy through my sole veins at that sweet freedom run.
Words in this poem
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- lovingly adv.
- With love; affectionately.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet CCI 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, Sonnet CCI, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/sonnet-cci.html, id L14801.
Form and metre
Sonnet CCI 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 86%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 29% 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 mindA · eyeB · highB · shrinedA · join'dA · joyB · nighB · findA · restC · asideD · oneC · press'dD · viedC · runD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A kingly nature, an angelic mind, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| A spotless soul, prompt aspect and keen eye, | 10 | ·/˘··/···· |
| Quick penetration, contemplation high | 10 | ··˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| And truly worthy of the breast which shrined: | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| In bright assembly lovely ladies join'd | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| To grace that festival with gratulant joy, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Amid so many and fair faces nigh | 10 | ˘/·/˘··/˘· |
| Soon his good judgment did the fairest find. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Of riper age and higher rank the rest | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Gently he beckon'd with his hand aside, | 10 | /˘·/˘···˘/ |
| And lovingly drew near the perfect ONE: | 10 | ·/˘˘···/·· |
| So courteously her eyes and brow he press'd, | 11 | ·/˘˘˘······ |
| All at his choice in fond approval vied-- | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Envy through my sole veins at that sweet freedom run. | 12 | /˘·······/˘· |
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.