Sonnet CCIV
P. Look on that hill, my fond but harass'd heart!Yestreen we left her there, who 'gan to takeSome care of us and friendlier looks to dart;Now from our eyes she draws a very lake:Return alone--I love to be apart--Try, if perchance the day will ever breakTo mitigate our still increasing smart,Partner and prophet of my lifelong ache.H. O wretch! in whom vain thoughts and idle swell,Thou, who thyself hast tutor'd to forget,Speak'st to thy heart as if 'twere with thee yet?When to thy greatest bliss thou saidst farewell,Thou didst depart alone: it stay'd with her,Nor cares from those bright eyes, its home, to stir.
Words in this poem
- yestreen n.
- Yester-evening; yesternight; last night.
- lifelong a.
- Lasting or continuing through life. [Life + long. Cf. Livelong.]
- ache n.
- A name given to several species of plants; as, smallage, wild celery, parsley. Holland. [F. ache, L. apium parsley.]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- depart v. i.
- To part; to divide; to separate. [OE. departen to divide, part, depart, F. départir to divide, distribute, se départir to separate one's self, depart; pref. dé- (L. de) + partir to part, depart,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet CCIV 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 CCIV, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/sonnet-cciv.html, id L14805.
Form and metre
Sonnet CCIV 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 85%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 14% 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 heartA · takeB · dartB · lakeA · apartA · breakB · smartB · acheA · swellC · forgetD · yetC · farewellD · herC · stirD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| P. Look on that hill, my fond but harass'd heart! | 11 | ········˘/· |
| Yestreen we left her there, who 'gan to take | 10 | ·········· |
| Some care of us and friendlier looks to dart; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Now from our eyes she draws a very lake: | 10 | ··/····/˘· |
| Return alone--I love to be apart-- | 10 | ˘/˘/····˘/ |
| Try, if perchance the day will ever break | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| To mitigate our still increasing smart, | 10 | ·/˘·/·˘/˘· |
| Partner and prophet of my lifelong ache. | 10 | /˘·/˘··//· |
| H. O wretch! in whom vain thoughts and idle swell, | 11 | ········/˘· |
| Thou, who thyself hast tutor'd to forget, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘·˘/ |
| Speak'st to thy heart as if 'twere with thee yet? | 10 | ·········· |
| When to thy greatest bliss thou saidst farewell, | 10 | ···/˘····/ |
| Thou didst depart alone: it stay'd with her, | 10 | ··˘/˘/···· |
| Nor cares from those bright eyes, its home, to stir. | 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.