Sonnet XCVI
Those pious lines wherein are finely metProofs of high genius and a spirit kind,Had so much influence on my grateful mindThat instantly in hand my pen I setTo tell you that death's final blow--which yetShall me and every mortal surely find--I have not felt, though I, too, nearly join'dThe confines of his realm without regret;But I turn'd back again because I readWrit o'er the threshold that the time to meOf life predestinate not all was fled,Though its last day and hour I could not see.Then once more let your sad heart comfort know,And love the living worth which dead it honour'd so.
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- predestinate a.
- Predestinated; foreordained; fated. [L. praedestinatus, p. p. of praedestinare to predestine; prae before + destinare to determine. See Destine.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet XCVI 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 XCVI, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/sonnet-xcvi.html, id L14634.
Form and metre
Sonnet XCVI 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%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 50% 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 metA · kindB · mindB · setA · yetA · findB · join'dB · regretA · readC · meD · fledC · seeD · knowC · soD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Those pious lines wherein are finely met | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Proofs of high genius and a spirit kind, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Had so much influence on my grateful mind | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| That instantly in hand my pen I set | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| To tell you that death's final blow--which yet | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Shall me and every mortal surely find-- | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| I have not felt, though I, too, nearly join'd | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The confines of his realm without regret; | 10 | ·/······˘/ |
| But I turn'd back again because I read | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Writ o'er the threshold that the time to me | 10 | ···/······ |
| Of life predestinate not all was fled, | 10 | ··˘/˘˘···· |
| Though its last day and hour I could not see. | 10 | ·····/···· |
| Then once more let your sad heart comfort know, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And love the living worth which dead it honour'd so. | 12 | ···/˘······· |
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.