Sonnet LXIV
I always loved, I love sincerely yet,And to love more from day to day shall learn,The charming spot where oft in grief I turnWhen Love's severities my bosom fret:My mind to love the time and hour is setWhich taught it each low care aside to spurn;She too, of loveliest face, for whom I burnBids me her fair life love and sin forget.Who ever thought to see in friendship join'd,On all sides with my suffering heart to cope,The gentle enemies I love so well?Love now is paramount my heart to bind,And, save that with desire increases hope,Dead should I lie alive where I would dwell.
Words in this poem
- sincerely adv.
- In a sincere manner. Specifically: (a) Purely; without alloy.
- 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,]
- spurn v. t.
- To drive back or away, as with the foot; to kick. [OE. spurnen to kick against, to stumble over, AS. spurnan to kick, offend; akin to spura spur, OS. & OHG. spurnan to kick, Icel. spyrna, L. spernere to despise,]
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet LXIV 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 LXIV, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/sonnet-lxiv.html, id L14585.
Form and metre
Sonnet LXIV 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 88%). 97% 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 yetA · learnB · turnB · fretA · setA · spurnB · burnB · forgetA · join'dC · copeD · wellC · bindD · hopeC · dwellD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I always loved, I love sincerely yet, | 10 | ·/····˘/˘· |
| And to love more from day to day shall learn, | 10 | ·········· |
| The charming spot where oft in grief I turn | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| When Love's severities my bosom fret: | 10 | ··˘/˘˘·/˘· |
| My mind to love the time and hour is set | 10 | ·······/·· |
| Which taught it each low care aside to spurn; | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| She too, of loveliest face, for whom I burn | 11 | ··········· |
| Bids me her fair life love and sin forget. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Who ever thought to see in friendship join'd, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| On all sides with my suffering heart to cope, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The gentle enemies I love so well? | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘···· |
| Love now is paramount my heart to bind, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And, save that with desire increases hope, | 10 | ····˘/˘/˘· |
| Dead should I lie alive where I would dwell. | 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.