Sonnet CCXIII
O misery! horror! can it, then, be true,That the sweet light before its time is spent,'Mid all its pains which could my life content,And ever with fresh hopes of good renew?If so, why sounds not other channels through,Nor only from herself, the great event?No! God and Nature could not thus consent,And my dark fears are groundless and undue.Still it delights my heart to hope once moreThe welcome sight of that enchanting face,The glory of our age, and life to me.But if, to her eternal home to soar,That heavenly spirit have left her earthly place,Oh! then not distant may my last day be!
Words in this poem
- groundless a.
- Without ground or foundation; wanting cause or reason for support; not authorized; false; as, groundless fear; a groundless report or assertion. [AS. grundleás bottomless.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet CCXIII 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 CCXIII, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/sonnet-ccxiii.html, id L14818.
Form and metre
Sonnet CCXIII 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 84%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 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 trueA · spentB · contentB · renewA · throughA · eventB · consentB · undueA · moreC · faceD · meC · soarD · placeC · beD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| O misery! horror! can it, then, be true, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| That the sweet light before its time is spent, | 10 | ·········· |
| 'Mid all its pains which could my life content, | 10 | ········/˘ |
| And ever with fresh hopes of good renew? | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| If so, why sounds not other channels through, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Nor only from herself, the great event? | 10 | ·/˘·˘/··˘/ |
| No! God and Nature could not thus consent, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| And my dark fears are groundless and undue. | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Still it delights my heart to hope once more | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| The welcome sight of that enchanting face, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| The glory of our age, and life to me. | 10 | ·/˘·/····· |
| But if, to her eternal home to soar, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| That heavenly spirit have left her earthly place, | 10 | ·/˘/···/˘· |
| Oh! then not distant may my last day be! | 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.