Sonnet XXXIX
I thought me apt and firm of wing to rise(Not of myself, but him who trains us all)In song, to numbers fitting the fair thrallWhich Love once fasten'd and which Death unties.Slow now and frail, the task too sorely tries,As a great weight upon a sucker small:"Who leaps," I said, "too high may midway fall:Man ill accomplishes what Heaven denies."So far the wing of genius ne'er could fly--Poor style like mine and faltering tongue much less--As Nature rose, in that rare fabric, high.Love follow'd Nature with such full successIn gracing her, no claim could I advanceEven to look, and yet was bless'd by chance.
Words in this poem
- sorely adv.
- In a sore manner; grievously; painfully; as, to be sorely afflicted.
- midway n.
- The middle of the way or distance; a middle way or course.
- faltering a.
- Hesitating; trembling.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet XXXIX 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 XXXIX, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/sonnet-xxxix.html, id L14905.
Form and metre
Sonnet XXXIX 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%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 29% 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 riseA · allB · thrallB · untiesA · triesA · smallB · fallB · deniesA · flyC · lessD · highC · successD · advanceC · chanceD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I thought me apt and firm of wing to rise | 10 | ·········· |
| (Not of myself, but him who trains us all) | 10 | ···/······ |
| In song, to numbers fitting the fair thrall | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Which Love once fasten'd and which Death unties. | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Slow now and frail, the task too sorely tries, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| As a great weight upon a sucker small: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| "Who leaps," I said, "too high may midway fall: | 10 | ·······/·· |
| Man ill accomplishes what Heaven denies." | 10 | ··˘/˘˘·/˘/ |
| So far the wing of genius ne'er could fly-- | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Poor style like mine and faltering tongue much less-- | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| As Nature rose, in that rare fabric, high. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Love follow'd Nature with such full success | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| In gracing her, no claim could I advance | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Even to look, and yet was bless'd by chance. | 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.