The Courage and Timidity of Love
The long Love that in my thought I harbour,And in my heart doth keep his residence,Into my face presseth with bold pretence,And there campeth displaying his banner.She that me learns to love and to suffer,And wills that my trust, and lust's negligenceBe rein'd by reason, shame, and reverence,With his hardiness takes displeasure.Wherewith Love to the heart's forest he fleeth,Leaving his enterprise with pain and cry,And there him hideth, and not appeareth.What may I do, when my master feareth,But in the field with him to live and die?For good is the life, ending faithfully.
Words in this poem
- harbour n.
- A station for rest and entertainment; a place of security and comfort; a refuge; a shelter. [OE herbor, herberwe, herberge, Icel. herbergi (cf. OHG. heriberga), orig., a shelter for soldiers; herr army + bjarga to save, help, defend; akin to AS. here ar]
- pretence n.
- The act of laying claim; the claim laid; assumption; pretension. [LL. praetensus, for L. praetentus, p. p. of praetendere. See Pretend, and cf. Tension.]
- hardiness n.
- Capability of endurance.
- wherewith adv.
- With which; -- used relatively.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Courage and Timidity of Love 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, The Courage and Timidity of Love, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/the-courage-and-timidity-of-love.html, id L14661.
Form and metre
The Courage and Timidity of Love 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 72%). 80% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 syllables. 10 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 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 harbourA · residenceB · pretenceB · bannerA · sufferA · negligenceB · reverenceB · displeasureA · fleethC · cryD · appearethC · fearethD · dieC · faithfullyD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The long Love that in my thought I harbour, | 10 | ········/˘ |
| And in my heart doth keep his residence, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Into my face presseth with bold pretence, | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| And there campeth displaying his banner. | 10 | ··/˘˘/˘·/˘ |
| She that me learns to love and to suffer, | 10 | ········/˘ |
| And wills that my trust, and lust's negligence | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Be rein'd by reason, shame, and reverence, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘˘ |
| With his hardiness takes displeasure. | 9 | ··/˘˘·˘/˘ |
| Wherewith Love to the heart's forest he fleeth, | 10 | ˘/····/˘·· |
| Leaving his enterprise with pain and cry, | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| And there him hideth, and not appeareth. | 10 | ·······˘/˘ |
| What may I do, when my master feareth, | 10 | ······/˘/˘ |
| But in the field with him to live and die? | 10 | ·········· |
| For good is the life, ending faithfully. | 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.