Sonnet LXVI
That which in fragrance and in hue defiedThe odoriferous and lucid East,Fruits, flowers and herbs and leaves, and whence the WestOf all rare excellence obtain'd the prize,My laurel sweet, which every beauty graced,Where every glowing virtue loved to dwell,Beheld beneath its fair and friendly shadeMy Lord, and by his side my Goddess sit.Still have I placed in that beloved plantMy home of choicest thoughts: in fire, in frostShivering or burning, still I have been bless'd.The world was of her perfect honours fullWhen God, his own bright heaven therewith to grace,Reclaim'd her for Himself, for she was his.
Words in this poem
- graced a.
- Endowed with grace; beautiful; full of graces; honorable.
- 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]
- therewith adv.
- With that or this.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet LXVI 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 LXVI, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/sonnet-lxvi-2.html, id L14959.
Form and metre
Sonnet LXVI 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%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 43% 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 defiedA · eastB · westB · prizeA · gracedA · dwellB · shadeB · sitA · plantC · frostD · bless'dC · fullD · graceC · hisD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| That which in fragrance and in hue defied | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| The odoriferous and lucid East, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Fruits, flowers and herbs and leaves, and whence the West | 10 | ·/········ |
| Of all rare excellence obtain'd the prize, | 10 | ···/˘˘˘/·· |
| My laurel sweet, which every beauty graced, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Where every glowing virtue loved to dwell, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Beheld beneath its fair and friendly shade | 10 | ˘/·····/˘· |
| My Lord, and by his side my Goddess sit. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Still have I placed in that beloved plant | 10 | ····˘··˘/· |
| My home of choicest thoughts: in fire, in frost | 10 | ···/˘··/·· |
| Shivering or burning, still I have been bless'd. | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| The world was of her perfect honours full | 10 | ·····/·/˘· |
| When God, his own bright heaven therewith to grace, | 10 | ·····/˘/·· |
| Reclaim'd her for Himself, for she was his. | 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.