Sonnet X
E'en in youth's fairest flower, when Love's dear swayIs wont with strongest power our hearts to bind,Leaving on earth her fleshly veil behind,My life, my Laura, pass'd from me away;Living, and fair, and free from our vile clay,From heaven she rules supreme my willing mind:Alas! why left me in this mortal rindThat first of peace, of sin that latest day?As my fond thoughts her heavenward path pursue,So may my soul glad, light, and ready beTo follow her, and thus from troubles flee.Whate'er delays me as worst loss I rue:Time makes me to myself but heavier grow:Death had been sweet to-day three years ago!
Words in this poem
- laura n.
- A number of hermitages or cells in the same neighborhood occupied by anchorites who were under the same superior. C. Kingsley.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet X 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 X, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/sonnet-x.html, id L14853.
Form and metre
Sonnet X 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%). 88% 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 swayA · bindB · behindB · awayA · clayA · mindB · rindB · dayA · pursueC · beD · fleeC · rueD · growC · agoD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| E'en in youth's fairest flower, when Love's dear sway | 10 | ···/˘/···· |
| Is wont with strongest power our hearts to bind, | 10 | ···/˘//··· |
| Leaving on earth her fleshly veil behind, | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| My life, my Laura, pass'd from me away; | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Living, and fair, and free from our vile clay, | 10 | /˘·····/·· |
| From heaven she rules supreme my willing mind: | 10 | ·/··˘/·/˘· |
| Alas! why left me in this mortal rind | 10 | ˘/·····/˘· |
| That first of peace, of sin that latest day? | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| As my fond thoughts her heavenward path pursue, | 11 | ·····/˘˘·˘/ |
| So may my soul glad, light, and ready be | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| To follow her, and thus from troubles flee. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Whate'er delays me as worst loss I rue: | 11 | ˘˘/˘/······ |
| Time makes me to myself but heavier grow: | 10 | ·····/·/˘· |
| Death had been sweet to-day three years ago! | 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.