Sonnet LXIII
Oh! to my soul for ever she returns;Or rather Lethe could not blot her thence,Such as she was when first she struck my sense,In that bright blushing age when beauty burns:So still I see her, bashful as she turnsRetired into herself, as from offence:I cry--"'Tis she! she still has life and sense:Oh, speak to me, my love!"--Sometimes she spurnsMy call; sometimes she seems to answer straight:Then, starting from my waking dream, I say,--"Alas! poor wretch, thou art of mind bereft!Forget'st thou the first hour of the sixth dayOf April, the three hundred, forty eight,And thousandth year,--when she her earthly mansion left?"
Words in this poem
- lethe n.
- A river of Hades whose waters when drunk caused forgetfulness of the past.
- bashful a.
- Abashed; daunted; dismayed. [See Bash.]
- offence n.
- The act of offending in any sense; esp., a crime or a sin, an affront or an injury. [F., fr. L. offensa. See Offend.]
- mansion n.
- A dwelling place, -- whether a part or whole of a house or other shelter. [OF. mansion, F. maison, fr. L. mansio a staying, remaining, a dwelling, habitation, fr. manere, mansum, to stay, dwell; akin to Gr. Manse, Manor, Menagerie, Men]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet LXIII 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 LXIII, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/sonnet-lxiii.html, id L14954.
Form and metre
Sonnet LXIII 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 10.1 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 returnsA · thenceB · senseB · burnsA · turnsA · offenceB · senseB · spurnsA · straightC · sayD · bereftC · dayD · eightC · leftD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Oh! to my soul for ever she returns; | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Or rather Lethe could not blot her thence, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Such as she was when first she struck my sense, | 10 | ·········· |
| In that bright blushing age when beauty burns: | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| So still I see her, bashful as she turns | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Retired into herself, as from offence: | 10 | ˘/··˘/··˘/ |
| I cry--"'Tis she! she still has life and sense: | 10 | ·········· |
| Oh, speak to me, my love!"--Sometimes she spurns | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| My call; sometimes she seems to answer straight: | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| Then, starting from my waking dream, I say,-- | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| "Alas! poor wretch, thou art of mind bereft! | 10 | ˘/······˘/ |
| Forget'st thou the first hour of the sixth day | 10 | ·····/···· |
| Of April, the three hundred, forty eight, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| And thousandth year,--when she her earthly mansion left?" | 12 | ·/˘····/˘/˘· |
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.