Though He Is Unhappy, His Love Remains Ever Unchanged
My sixteenth year of sighs its course has run,I stand alone, already on the browWhere Age descends: and yet it seems as nowMy time of trial only were begun.'Tis sweet to love, and good to be undone;Though life be hard, more days may Heaven allowMisfortune to outlive: else Death may bowThe bright head low my loving praise that won.Here am I now who fain would be elsewhere;More would I wish and yet no more I would;I could no more and yet did all I could:And new tears born of old desires declareThat still I am as I was wont to be,And that a thousand changes change not me.
Words in this poem
- undone a.
- Not done or performed; neglected. [Pref. un- not + done.]
- outlive v. t.
- To live beyond, or longer than; to survive.
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Though He Is Unhappy, His Love Remains Ever Unchanged 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, Though He Is Unhappy, His Love Remains Ever Unchanged, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/though-he-is-unhappy-his-love-remains-ever-unchanged.html, id L14631.
Form and metre
Though He Is Unhappy, His Love Remains Ever Unchanged 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%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 36% 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 runA · browB · nowB · begunA · undoneA · allowB · bowB · wonA · elsewhereC · wouldD · couldC · declareD · beC · meD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| My sixteenth year of sighs its course has run, | 10 | ·˘/······· |
| I stand alone, already on the brow | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| Where Age descends: and yet it seems as now | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| My time of trial only were begun. | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| 'Tis sweet to love, and good to be undone; | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Though life be hard, more days may Heaven allow | 10 | ·······/˘/ |
| Misfortune to outlive: else Death may bow | 10 | ˘/˘··/···· |
| The bright head low my loving praise that won. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Here am I now who fain would be elsewhere; | 10 | ········/· |
| More would I wish and yet no more I would; | 10 | ·········· |
| I could no more and yet did all I could: | 10 | ·········· |
| And new tears born of old desires declare | 10 | ······˘/˘/ |
| That still I am as I was wont to be, | 10 | ·········· |
| And that a thousand changes change not me. | 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.