Sonnet LXVI
Instantly a good archer draws his bowSmall skill it needs, e'en from afar, to seeWhich shaft, less fortunate, despised may be,Which to its destined sign will certain go:Lady, e'en thus of your bright eyes the blow,You surely felt pass straight and deep in me,Searching my life, whence--such is fate's decree--Eternal tears my stricken heart overflow;And well I know e'en then your pity said:Fond wretch! to misery whom passion leads,Be this the point at once to strike him dead.But seeing now how sorrow sorrow breeds,All that my cruel foes against me plot,For my worse pain, and for my death is not.
Words in this poem
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
- stricken p. p.
- Struck; smitten; wounded; as, the stricken deer.
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.html, id L14587.
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 85%). 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 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 bowA · seeB · beB · goA · blowA · meB · decreeB · overflowA · saidC · leadsD · deadC · breedsD · plotC · notD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Instantly a good archer draws his bow | 10 | /˘˘··/˘··· |
| Small skill it needs, e'en from afar, to see | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Which shaft, less fortunate, despised may be, | 10 | ···/˘˘˘/·· |
| Which to its destined sign will certain go: | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Lady, e'en thus of your bright eyes the blow, | 10 | /˘········ |
| You surely felt pass straight and deep in me, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Searching my life, whence--such is fate's decree-- | 10 | /˘······˘/ |
| Eternal tears my stricken heart overflow; | 11 | ˘/˘··/˘·/˘· |
| And well I know e'en then your pity said: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Fond wretch! to misery whom passion leads, | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘· |
| Be this the point at once to strike him dead. | 10 | ·········· |
| But seeing now how sorrow sorrow breeds, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| All that my cruel foes against me plot, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| For my worse pain, and for my death is not. | 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.