Wyatt
Warfare I cannot wage, yet know not peace;I fear, I hope, I burn, I freeze again;Mount to the skies, then bow to earth my face;Grasp the whole world, yet nothing can obtain.His prisoner Love nor frees, nor will detain;In toils he holds me not, nor will release;He slays me not, nor yet will he unchain;Nor joy allows, nor lets my sorrow cease.Sightless I see my fair; though mute, I mourn;I scorn existence, and yet court its stay;Detest myself, and for another burn;By grief I'm nurtured; and, though tearful, gay;Death I despise, and life alike I hate:Such, lady, dost thou make my wayward state!
Words in this poem
- wage v. i.
- To bind one's self; to engage.
- unchain v. t.
- To free from chains or slavery; to let loose. Prior. [1st pref. un- + chain.]
- sightless a.
- Wanting sight; without sight; blind.
- detest v. t.
- To witness against; to denounce; to condemn. [L. detestare, detestatum, and detestari, to curse while calling a deity to witness, to execrate, detest; de + testari to be a witness, testify, testis a witness]
- tearful a.
- Abounding with tears; weeping; shedding tears; as, tearful eyes.
- despise v. t.
- To look down upon with disfavor or contempt; to contemn; to scorn; to disdain; to have a low opinion or contemptuous dislike of. [OF. despis-, in some forms of despire to despise, fr. L. despicere, despectum, to look down upon, despise; de- + spicere, specere, to look. See Spy, and cf. Des]
- wayward a.
- Taking one's own way; disobedient; froward; perverse; willful. [OE. weiward, for aweiward, i. e., turned away. See Away, and -ward.]
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-3.html, id L14653.
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 92%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables.
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 peaceA · againB · faceB · obtainA · detainA · releaseB · unchainB · ceaseA · mournC · stayD · burnC · gayD · hateC · stateD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Warfare I cannot wage, yet know not peace; | 10 | /··˘/····· |
| I fear, I hope, I burn, I freeze again; | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Mount to the skies, then bow to earth my face; | 10 | ·········· |
| Grasp the whole world, yet nothing can obtain. | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| His prisoner Love nor frees, nor will detain; | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| In toils he holds me not, nor will release; | 10 | ········˘/ |
| He slays me not, nor yet will he unchain; | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Nor joy allows, nor lets my sorrow cease. | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| Sightless I see my fair; though mute, I mourn; | 10 | /˘········ |
| I scorn existence, and yet court its stay; | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Detest myself, and for another burn; | 10 | ˘/·/··˘/˘· |
| By grief I'm nurtured; and, though tearful, gay; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Death I despise, and life alike I hate: | 10 | ··˘/··˘/·· |
| Such, lady, dost thou make my wayward state! | 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.