Sonnet LXXIX
On my oft-troubled sleep my sacred airSo softly breathes, at last I courage take,To tell her of my past and present ache,Which never in her life my heart did dare.I first that glance so full of love declareWhich served my lifelong torment to awake,Next, how, content and wretched for her sake,Love day by day my tost heart knew to tear.She speaks not, but, with pity's dewy trace,Intently looks on me, and gently sighs,While pure and lustrous tears begem her face;My spirit, which her sorrow fiercely tries,So to behold her weep with anger burns,And freed from slumber to itself returns.
Words in this poem
- ache n.
- A name given to several species of plants; as, smallage, wild celery, parsley. Holland. [F. ache, L. apium parsley.]
- lifelong a.
- Lasting or continuing through life. [Life + long. Cf. Livelong.]
- intently adv.
- In an intent manner; as, the eyes intently fixed.
- begem v. t.
- To adorn with gems, or as with gems.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet LXXIX 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 LXXIX, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/sonnet-lxxix.html, id L14979.
Form and metre
Sonnet LXXIX 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%). 99% 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 airA · takeB · acheB · dareA · declareA · awakeB · sakeB · tearA · traceC · sighsD · faceC · triesD · burnsC · returnsD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| On my oft-troubled sleep my sacred air | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| So softly breathes, at last I courage take, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| To tell her of my past and present ache, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Which never in her life my heart did dare. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| I first that glance so full of love declare | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Which served my lifelong torment to awake, | 10 | ···///··˘/ |
| Next, how, content and wretched for her sake, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| Love day by day my tost heart knew to tear. | 10 | ·········· |
| She speaks not, but, with pity's dewy trace, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Intently looks on me, and gently sighs, | 10 | ˘/˘····/˘· |
| While pure and lustrous tears begem her face; | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| My spirit, which her sorrow fiercely tries, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| So to behold her weep with anger burns, | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| And freed from slumber to itself returns. | 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.