Sonnet LIV
Ne'er shall I see again with eyes unwet,Or with the sure powers of a tranquil mind,Those characters where Love so brightly shined,And his own hand affection seem'd to set;Spirit! amid earth's strifes unconquer'd yet,Breathing such sweets from heaven which now has shrined,As once more to my wandering verse has join'dThe style which Death had led me to forget.Another work, than my young leaves more bright,I thought to show: what envying evil starSnatch'd thee, my noble treasure, thus from me?So soon who hides thee from my fond heart's sight,And from thy praise my loving tongue would bar?My soul has rest, sweet sigh! alone in thee.
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet LIV 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 LIV, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/sonnet-liv.html, id L14932.
Form and metre
Sonnet LIV 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%). 87% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 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 unwetA · mindB · shinedB · setA · yetA · shrinedB · join'dB · forgetA · brightC · starD · meC · sightD · barC · theeD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ne'er shall I see again with eyes unwet, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Or with the sure powers of a tranquil mind, | 10 | ····/··/˘· |
| Those characters where Love so brightly shined, | 10 | ·/˘˘···/˘· |
| And his own hand affection seem'd to set; | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Spirit! amid earth's strifes unconquer'd yet, | 10 | /˘˘/······ |
| Breathing such sweets from heaven which now has shrined, | 10 | /˘···/···· |
| As once more to my wandering verse has join'd | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The style which Death had led me to forget. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Another work, than my young leaves more bright, | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| I thought to show: what envying evil star | 10 | ·····/˘˘/· |
| Snatch'd thee, my noble treasure, thus from me? | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| So soon who hides thee from my fond heart's sight, | 10 | ·········· |
| And from thy praise my loving tongue would bar? | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| My soul has rest, sweet sigh! alone in thee. | 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.