Sonnet XC
Friend, on this spot, I life but half endure(Would I were wholly here and you content),Where from the storm and wind my course I bent,Which suddenly had left the skies obscure.Fain would I tell--for here I feel me sure--Why lightnings now no fear to me present;And why unmitigated, much less spent,E'en as before my fierce desires allure.Soon as I reach'd these realms of love, and sawWhere, sweet and pure, to life my Laura came,Who calms the air, at rest the thunder lays;Love in my soul, where she alone gives law,Quench'd the cold fear and kindled the fast flame;What were it then on her bright eyes to gaze!
Words in this poem
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- 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 XC 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 XC, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/sonnet-xc.html, id L14625.
Form and metre
Sonnet XC 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 86%). 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 endureA · contentB · bentB · obscureA · sureA · presentB · spentB · allureA · sawC · cameD · laysC · lawD · flameC · gazeD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Friend, on this spot, I life but half endure | 10 | ········˘/ |
| (Would I were wholly here and you content), | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Where from the storm and wind my course I bent, | 10 | ·········· |
| Which suddenly had left the skies obscure. | 10 | ·/˘˘····˘/ |
| Fain would I tell--for here I feel me sure-- | 10 | ·········· |
| Why lightnings now no fear to me present; | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| And why unmitigated, much less spent, | 10 | ··˘/˘·˘··· |
| E'en as before my fierce desires allure. | 10 | ······˘/˘/ |
| Soon as I reach'd these realms of love, and saw | 10 | ·········· |
| Where, sweet and pure, to life my Laura came, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Who calms the air, at rest the thunder lays; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Love in my soul, where she alone gives law, | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Quench'd the cold fear and kindled the fast flame; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| What were it then on her bright eyes to gaze! | 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.