Wrangham
When Love, whose proper throne is that sweet face,At times escorts her 'mid the sisters fair,As their each beauty is than hers less rare,So swells in me the fond desire apace.I bless the hour, the season and the place,So high and heavenward when my eyes could dare;And say: "My heart! in grateful memory bearThis lofty honour and surpassing grace:From her descends the tender truthful thought,Which follow'd, bliss supreme shall thee repay,Who spurn'st the vanities that win the crowd:From her that gentle graceful love is caught,To heaven which leads thee by the right-hand way,And crowns e'en here with hopes both pure and proud."
Words in this poem
- apace adv.
- With a quick pace; quick; fast; speedily. [Pref. a- + pace. OE. a pas at a walk, in which a is the article. See Pace.]
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Wrangham 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, Wrangham, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/wrangham-3.html, id L14484.
Form and metre
Wrangham 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%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 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 faceA · fairB · rareB · apaceA · placeA · dareB · bearB · graceA · thoughtC · repayD · crowdC · caughtD · wayC · proudD
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 Love, whose proper throne is that sweet face, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| At times escorts her 'mid the sisters fair, | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| As their each beauty is than hers less rare, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| So swells in me the fond desire apace. | 10 | ······˘/˘/ |
| I bless the hour, the season and the place, | 10 | ···/·/˘··· |
| So high and heavenward when my eyes could dare; | 11 | ···/˘˘····· |
| And say: "My heart! in grateful memory bear | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| This lofty honour and surpassing grace: | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| From her descends the tender truthful thought, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘/˘· |
| Which follow'd, bliss supreme shall thee repay, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/··˘/ |
| Who spurn'st the vanities that win the crowd: | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| From her that gentle graceful love is caught, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| To heaven which leads thee by the right-hand way, | 10 | ·/········ |
| And crowns e'en here with hopes both pure and proud." | 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.