Wrangham
Yes, I beheld on earth angelic grace,And charms divine which mortals rarely see,Such as both glad and pain the memory;Vain, light, unreal is all else I trace:Tears I saw shower'd from those fine eyes apace,Of which the sun ofttimes might envious be;Accents I heard sigh'd forth so movingly,As to stay floods, or mountains to displace.Love and good sense, firmness, with pity join'dAnd wailful grief, a sweeter concert madeThan ever yet was pour'd on human ear:And heaven unto the music so inclined,That not a leaf was seen to stir the shade;Such melody had fraught the winds, the atmosphere.
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.]
- ofttimes adv.
- Frequently; often. [Oft + time. Cf. -wards.]
- envious a.
- Malignant; mischievous; spiteful. [OF. envios, F. envieux, fr. L. invidiosus, fr. invidia envy. See Envy, and cf. Invidious.]
- movingly adv.
- In a moving manner.
- wailful a.
- Sorrowful; mournful.
- fraught n.
- A freight; a cargo. [OE.fraight, fraght; akin to Dan. fragt, Sw. frakt, D. vracht, G. fracht, cf. OHG. fr merit, reward; perh. from corresponding to E. for + The root of E. own. Cf.]
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-7.html, id L14683.
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 84%). 84% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 14% 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 graceA · seeB · memoryB · traceA · apaceA · beB · movinglyB · displaceA · join'dC · madeD · earC · inclinedD · shadeC · atmosphereD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Yes, I beheld on earth angelic grace, | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| And charms divine which mortals rarely see, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘/˘· |
| Such as both glad and pain the memory; | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Vain, light, unreal is all else I trace: | 9 | ··˘/····· |
| Tears I saw shower'd from those fine eyes apace, | 10 | ···/····˘/ |
| Of which the sun ofttimes might envious be; | 10 | ····/˘·/˘· |
| Accents I heard sigh'd forth so movingly, | 10 | /˘·····/˘˘ |
| As to stay floods, or mountains to displace. | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Love and good sense, firmness, with pity join'd | 10 | ····/˘·/˘· |
| And wailful grief, a sweeter concert made | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Than ever yet was pour'd on human ear: | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And heaven unto the music so inclined, | 10 | ·/···/˘·˘/ |
| That not a leaf was seen to stir the shade; | 10 | ·········· |
| Such melody had fraught the winds, the atmosphere. | 11 | ·/˘·····/˘· |
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.