Wyatt
Weary I never was, nor can be e'er,Lady, while life shall last, of loving you,But brought, alas! myself in hate to view,Perpetual tears have bred a blank despair:I wish a tomb, whose marble fine and fair,When this tired spirit and frail flesh are two,May show your name, to which my death is due,If e'en our names at last one stone may share;Wherefore, if full of faith and love, a heartCan, of worst torture short, suffice your hate,Mercy at length may visit e'en my smart.If otherwise your wrath itself would sate,It is deceived: and none will credit show;To Love and to myself my thanks for this I owe.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- wherefore adv.
- For which reason; so; -- used relatively. [Where + for.]
- suffice v. i.
- To be enough, or sufficient; to meet the need (of anything); to be equal to the end proposed; to be adequate. [OE. suffisen, OF. soufire, F. suffire (cf. suffisant, p.pr.), L. sufficere to put under, to substitute, to avail for, to suffice; sub under + facere to make. Se]
- sate v. t.
- To satisfy the desire or appetite of; to satiate; to glut; to surfeit. [Probably shortened fr. satiate: cf. L. satus full. See Satiate.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Wyatt 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, Wyatt, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/wyatt-2.html, id L14581.
Form and metre
Wyatt 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 90%). 87% 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 e'erA · youB · viewB · despairA · fairA · twoB · dueB · shareA · heartC · hateD · smartC · sateD · showC · oweD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Weary I never was, nor can be e'er, | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Lady, while life shall last, of loving you, | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| But brought, alas! myself in hate to view, | 10 | ··˘/·/···· |
| Perpetual tears have bred a blank despair: | 10 | ˘/˘·····˘/ |
| I wish a tomb, whose marble fine and fair, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| When this tired spirit and frail flesh are two, | 10 | ··//˘····· |
| May show your name, to which my death is due, | 10 | ·········· |
| If e'en our names at last one stone may share; | 10 | ··/······· |
| Wherefore, if full of faith and love, a heart | 10 | /˘········ |
| Can, of worst torture short, suffice your hate, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| Mercy at length may visit e'en my smart. | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| If otherwise your wrath itself would sate, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| It is deceived: and none will credit show; | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| To Love and to myself my thanks for this I owe. | 12 | ·····/······ |
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.