Surrey
Love in my thought who ever lives and reigns,And in my heart still holds the upper place,At times come forward boldly in my face,There plants his ensign and his post maintains:She, who in love instructs us and its pains,Would fain that reason, shame, respect should chasePresumptuous hope and high desire abase,And at our daring scarce herself restrains,Love thereon to my heart retires dismay'd,Abandons his attempt, and weeps and fears,And hiding there, no more my friend appears.What can the liege whose lord is thus afraid,More than with him, till life's last gasp, to dwell?For who well loving dies at least dies well.
Words in this poem
- boldly adv.
- In a bold manner. [AS. bealdlice.]
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- thereon adv.
- On that or this. [AS. . See There, and On.]
- liege a.
- Sovereign; independent; having authority or right to allegiance; as, a liege lord. [OE. lige, lege, F. lige, LL. ligius, legius, liege, unlimited, complete, prob. of German origin; cf. G. ledig free from bonds and obstacles, MHG. ledec, ledic, ]
- gasp v. i.
- To open the mouth wide in catching the breath, or in laborious respiration; to labor for breath; to respire convulsively; to pant violently. [OE. gaspen, gaispen, to yawn, gasp, Icel. geispa to yawn; akin to Sw. gäspa, Dan. gispe to gasp.]
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Surrey 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, Surrey, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/surrey.html, id L14663.
Form and metre
Surrey 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 87%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 7% 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 reignsA · placeB · faceB · maintainsA · painsA · chaseB · abaseB · restrainsA · dismay'dC · fearsD · appearsC · afraidD · dwellC · wellD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Love in my thought who ever lives and reigns, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And in my heart still holds the upper place, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| At times come forward boldly in my face, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| There plants his ensign and his post maintains: | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| She, who in love instructs us and its pains, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Would fain that reason, shame, respect should chase | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| Presumptuous hope and high desire abase, | 10 | ˘/˘···˘/˘/ |
| And at our daring scarce herself restrains, | 10 | ··//˘·˘/˘/ |
| Love thereon to my heart retires dismay'd, | 10 | ·˘/···˘/˘/ |
| Abandons his attempt, and weeps and fears, | 10 | ˘/˘·˘/···· |
| And hiding there, no more my friend appears. | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| What can the liege whose lord is thus afraid, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| More than with him, till life's last gasp, to dwell? | 10 | ·········· |
| For who well loving dies at least dies well. | 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.