Sonnet CCIX
Haply my style to some may seem too freeIn praise of her who holds my being's chain,Queen of her sex describing her to reign,Wise, winning, good, fair, noble, chaste to be:To me it seems not so; I fear that sheMy lays as low and trifling may disdain,Worthy a higher and a better strain;--Who thinks not with me let him come and see.Then will he say, She whom his wishes seekIs one indeed whose grace and worth might tireThe muses of all lands and either lyre.But mortal tongue for state divine is weak,And may not soar; by flattery and force,As Fate not choice ordains, Love rules its course.
Words in this poem
- haply adv.
- By hap, chance, luck, or accident; perhaps; it may be.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet CCIX 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 CCIX, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/sonnet-ccix.html, id L14812.
Form and metre
Sonnet CCIX 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 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.
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 freeA · chainB · reignB · beA · sheA · disdainB · strainB · seeA · seekC · tireD · lyreC · weakD · forceC · courseD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Haply my style to some may seem too free | 10 | /˘········ |
| In praise of her who holds my being's chain, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Queen of her sex describing her to reign, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Wise, winning, good, fair, noble, chaste to be: | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| To me it seems not so; I fear that she | 10 | ·········· |
| My lays as low and trifling may disdain, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Worthy a higher and a better strain; | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| --Who thinks not with me let him come and see. | 10 | ·········· |
| Then will he say, She whom his wishes seek | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Is one indeed whose grace and worth might tire | 11 | ··˘/·····/˘ |
| The muses of all lands and either lyre. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| But mortal tongue for state divine is weak, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| And may not soar; by flattery and force, | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| As Fate not choice ordains, Love rules its course. | 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.