Wrangham
'Twas on the blessed morning when the sunIn pity to our Maker hid his light,That, unawares, the captive I was won,Lady, of your bright eyes which chain'd me quite;That seem'd to me no time against the blowsOf love to make defence, to frame relief:Secure and unsuspecting, thus my woesDate their commencement from the common grief.Love found me feeble then and fenceless all,Open the way and easy to my heartThrough eyes, where since my sorrows ebb and flow:But therein was, methinks, his triumph small,On me, in that weak state, to strike his dart,Yet hide from you so strong his very bow.
Words in this poem
- defence n.
- The act of defending, or the state of being defended; protection, as from violence or danger. [F. défense, OF. defense, fem., defens, masc., fr. L. defensa (cf. Fence.]
- fenceless a.
- Without a fence; uninclosed; open; unguarded; defenseless.
- methinks v.
- It seems to me; I think. See Me. [AS. þyncan to seem, me þynceedh, me þuhte, OE. me thinketh, me thoughte; akin to G. dünken to seem, denken to think, and E. think. See Me, and Think.]
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.html, id L14464.
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 91%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 29% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end. Rhymes that have moved apart since the poem was written: love / move.
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 sunA · lightB · wonB · quiteA · blowsA · reliefB · woesB · griefA · allC · heartD · flowC · smallD · dartC · bowD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 'Twas on the blessed morning when the sun | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| In pity to our Maker hid his light, | 10 | ·/˘·//˘··· |
| That, unawares, the captive I was won, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| Lady, of your bright eyes which chain'd me quite; | 10 | /˘········ |
| That seem'd to me no time against the blows | 10 | ·········· |
| Of love to make defence, to frame relief: | 10 | ····˘/··˘/ |
| Secure and unsuspecting, thus my woes | 10 | ˘/··˘/˘··· |
| Date their commencement from the common grief. | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Love found me feeble then and fenceless all, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Open the way and easy to my heart | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Through eyes, where since my sorrows ebb and flow: | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| But therein was, methinks, his triumph small, | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| On me, in that weak state, to strike his dart, | 10 | ·········· |
| Yet hide from you so strong his very bow. | 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.