Sonnet Ccxxvii
My lord and friend! thoughts, wishes, all inclinedMy heart to visit one so dear to me,But Fortune--can she ever worse decree?--Held me in hand, misled, or kept behind.Since then the dear desire Love taught my mindBut leads me to a death I did not see,And while my twin lights, wheresoe'er I be,Are still denied, by day and night I've pined.Affection for my lord, my lady's love,The bonds have been wherewith in torments longI have been bound, which round myself I wove.A Laurel green, a Column fair and strong,This for three lustres, that for three years moreIn my fond breast, nor wish'd it free, I bore.
Words in this poem
- wherewith adv.
- With which; -- used relatively.
- wove
- p. pr. & rare vb. n. of Weave.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet Ccxxvii 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 Ccxxvii, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/sonnet-ccxxvii.html, id L14837.
Form and metre
Sonnet Ccxxvii 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 92%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 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 inclinedA · meB · decreeB · behindA · mindA · seeB · beB · pinedA · loveC · longD · woveC · strongD · moreC · boreD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| My lord and friend! thoughts, wishes, all inclined | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| My heart to visit one so dear to me, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| But Fortune--can she ever worse decree?-- | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Held me in hand, misled, or kept behind. | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Since then the dear desire Love taught my mind | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| But leads me to a death I did not see, | 10 | ·········· |
| And while my twin lights, wheresoe'er I be, | 10 | ·········· |
| Are still denied, by day and night I've pined. | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Affection for my lord, my lady's love, | 10 | ˘/˘····/˘· |
| The bonds have been wherewith in torments long | 10 | ····˘/·/·· |
| I have been bound, which round myself I wove. | 10 | ·······/·· |
| A Laurel green, a Column fair and strong, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| This for three lustres, that for three years more | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| In my fond breast, nor wish'd it free, I bore. | 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.