The Fall
Upon the left shore of the Tyrrhene sea,Where, broken by the winds, the waves complain,Sudden I saw that honour'd green again,Written for whom so many a page must be:Love, ever in my soul his flame who fed,Drew me with memories of those tresses fair;Whence, in a rivulet, which silent thereThrough long grass stole, I fell, as one struck dead.Lone as I was, 'mid hills of oak and fir,I felt ashamed; to heart of gentle mouldBlushes suffice: nor needs it other spur.'Tis well at least, breaking bad customs old,To change from eyes to feet: from these so wetBy those if milder April should be met.
Words in this poem
- stole n.
- A long, loose garment reaching to the feet. [AS. stole, L. stola, Gr. stall. See Stall.]
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- mould n.
- Crumbling, soft, friable earth; esp., earth containing the remains or constituents of organic matter, and suited to the growth of plants; soil. [OE. molde, AS. molde; akin to D. mul, G. mull, mulm, OHG. molt, molta, Icel. mold, Dan. muld, Sw. mull, Goth. mulda, and E. meal flour. See Meal, and cf. Mole a]
- suffice v. i.
- To be enough, or sufficient; to meet the need (of anything); to be equal to the end proposed; to be adequate. [OE. suffisen, OF. soufire, F. suffire (cf. suffisant, p.pr.), L. sufficere to put under, to substitute, to avail for, to suffice; sub under + facere to make. Se]
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Fall 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 Fall, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/the-fall.html, id L14563.
Form and metre
The Fall 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%). 87% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 21% 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 seaA · complainB · againB · beA · fedA · fairB · thereB · deadA · firC · mouldD · spurC · oldD · wetC · metD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Upon the left shore of the Tyrrhene sea, | 10 | ·········· |
| Where, broken by the winds, the waves complain, | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Sudden I saw that honour'd green again, | 10 | /˘······˘/ |
| Written for whom so many a page must be: | 10 | /˘···/···· |
| Love, ever in my soul his flame who fed, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Drew me with memories of those tresses fair; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Whence, in a rivulet, which silent there | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘· |
| Through long grass stole, I fell, as one struck dead. | 10 | ·········· |
| Lone as I was, 'mid hills of oak and fir, | 10 | ·········· |
| I felt ashamed; to heart of gentle mould | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| Blushes suffice: nor needs it other spur. | 10 | /˘˘/···/˘· |
| 'Tis well at least, breaking bad customs old, | 10 | ····/˘·/˘· |
| To change from eyes to feet: from these so wet | 10 | ·········· |
| By those if milder April should be met. | 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.