Sonnet CCXX
Live sparks were glistening from her twin bright eyes,So sweet on me whose lightning flashes beam'd,And softly from a feeling heart and wise,Of lofty eloquence a rich flood stream'd:Even the memory serves to wake my sighsWhen I recall that day so glad esteem'd,And in my heart its sinking spirit diesAs some late grace her colder wont redeem'd.My soul in pain and grief that most has been(How great the power of constant habit is!)Seems weakly 'neath its double joy to lean:For at the sole taste of unusual bliss,Trembling with fear, or thrill'd by idle hope,Oft on the point I've been life's door to ope.
About this text
Sonnet CCXX 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 CCXX, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/sonnet-ccxx.html, id L14827.
Form and metre
Sonnet CCXX 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%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 21% 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 eyesA · beam'dB · wiseB · stream'dA · sighsA · esteem'dB · diesB · redeem'dA · beenC · isD · leanC · blissD · hopeC · opeD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Live sparks were glistening from her twin bright eyes, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| So sweet on me whose lightning flashes beam'd, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| And softly from a feeling heart and wise, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Of lofty eloquence a rich flood stream'd: | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘···· |
| Even the memory serves to wake my sighs | 10 | /·/˘˘····· |
| When I recall that day so glad esteem'd, | 10 | ··˘/····˘/ |
| And in my heart its sinking spirit dies | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| As some late grace her colder wont redeem'd. | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| My soul in pain and grief that most has been | 10 | ·········· |
| (How great the power of constant habit is!) | 10 | ···/·/˘/˘· |
| Seems weakly 'neath its double joy to lean: | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| For at the sole taste of unusual bliss, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Trembling with fear, or thrill'd by idle hope, | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| Oft on the point I've been life's door to ope. | 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.