When Laura Departs, the Heavens Grow Dark with Storms
When from its proper soil the tree is movedWhich Phoebus loved erewhile in human form,Grim Vulcan at his labour sighs and sweats,Renewing ever the dread bolts of Jove,Who thunders now, now speaks in snow and rain,Nor Julius honoureth than Janus more:Earth moans, and far from us the sun retiresSince his dear mistress here no more is seen.Then Mars and Saturn, cruel stars, resumeTheir hostile rage: Orion arm'd with cloudsThe helm and sails of storm-tost seamen breaks.To Neptune and to Juno and to usVext AEolus proves his power, and makes us feelHow parts the fair face angels long expect.
Words in this poem
- phoebus n.
- Apollo; the sun god.
- erewhile adv.
- Some time ago; a little while before; heretofore.
- jove n.
- The chief divinity of the ancient Romans; Jupiter. [L. Jupiter, gen. Jovis, OL. Jovis, nom. & gen. for Djovis; akin to E. Tuesday. See Tuesday, and cf. Jupiter.]
- resume n.
- A summing up; a condensed statement; an abridgment or brief recapitulation. [F. See Resume.]
- orion n.
- A large and bright constellation on the equator, between the stars Aldebaran and Sirius. It contains a remarkable nebula visible to the naked eye.
- expect v. t.
- To wait for; to await. [L. expectatum, to look out for, await, expect; ex + out spectare to look at. See Spectacle.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
When Laura Departs, the Heavens Grow Dark with Storms 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, When Laura Departs, the Heavens Grow Dark with Storms, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/when-laura-departs-the-heavens-grow-dark-with-storms.html, id L14527.
Form and metre
When Laura Departs, the Heavens Grow Dark with Storms 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 91%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 43% 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 movedA · formB · sweatsB · joveA · rainA · moreB · retiresB · seenA · resumeC · cloudsD · breaksC · usD · feelC · expectD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When from its proper soil the tree is moved | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Which Phoebus loved erewhile in human form, | 12 | ·/˘······/˘· |
| Grim Vulcan at his labour sighs and sweats, | 10 | ·/˘··/···· |
| Renewing ever the dread bolts of Jove, | 10 | ˘/˘/˘····· |
| Who thunders now, now speaks in snow and rain, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Nor Julius honoureth than Janus more: | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘·/˘· |
| Earth moans, and far from us the sun retires | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Since his dear mistress here no more is seen. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Then Mars and Saturn, cruel stars, resume | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Their hostile rage: Orion arm'd with clouds | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| The helm and sails of storm-tost seamen breaks. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| To Neptune and to Juno and to us | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Vext AEolus proves his power, and makes us feel | 10 | ·····/···· |
| How parts the fair face angels long expect. | 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.