To Stefano Colonna the Elder, Inviting Him to the Country
Glorious Colonna! still the strength and stayOf our best hopes, and the great Latin nameWhom power could never from the true right waySeduce by flattery or by terror tame:No palace, theatres, nor arches here,But, in their stead, the fir, the beech, and pineOn the green sward, with the fair mountain nearPaced to and fro by poet friend of thine;Thus unto heaven the soul from earth is caught;While Philomel, who sweetly to the shadeThe livelong night her desolate lot complains,Fills the soft heart with many an amorous thought:--Ah! why is so rare good imperfect madeWhile severed from us still my lord remains.
Words in this poem
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
- seduce v. t.
- To draw aside from the path of rectitude and duty in any manner; to entice to evil; to lead astray; to tempt and lead to iniquity; to corrupt. [L. seducere, seductum; pref. se- aside + ducere to lead. See Duke.]
- livelong a.
- Whole; entire; long in passing; -- used of time, as day or night, in adverbial phrases, and usually with a sense of tediousness. [For lifelong. Cf. Lifelong.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Stefano Colonna the Elder, Inviting Him to the Country 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, To Stefano Colonna the Elder, Inviting Him to the Country, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/to-stefano-colonna-the-elder-inviting-him-to-the-country.html, id L14477.
Form and metre
To Stefano Colonna the Elder, Inviting Him to the Country 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 82%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 50% 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 stayA · nameB · wayB · tameA · hereA · pineB · nearB · thineA · caughtC · shadeD · complainsC · thoughtD · madeC · remainsD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Glorious Colonna! still the strength and stay | 10 | /˘˘/˘····· |
| Of our best hopes, and the great Latin name | 10 | ·/·····/˘· |
| Whom power could never from the true right way | 10 | ·/·/˘····· |
| Seduce by flattery or by terror tame: | 10 | ˘/·/˘··/˘· |
| No palace, theatres, nor arches here, | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘·/˘· |
| But, in their stead, the fir, the beech, and pine | 10 | ·········· |
| On the green sward, with the fair mountain near | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Paced to and fro by poet friend of thine; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Thus unto heaven the soul from earth is caught; | 10 | ···/······ |
| While Philomel, who sweetly to the shade | 10 | ·/˘˘·/˘··· |
| The livelong night her desolate lot complains, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Fills the soft heart with many an amorous thought: | 10 | ·····/·/˘· |
| --Ah! why is so rare good imperfect made | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| While severed from us still my lord remains. | 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.