"Sonnet 292" from the Canzoniere
translated by Anthony Mortimer
The eyes I spoke of once in words that burn,
the arms and hands and feet and lovely face
that took me from myself for such a space
of time and marked me out from other men;
the waving hair of unmixed gold that shone,
the smile that flashed with the angelic rays
that used to make this earth a paradise,
are now a little dust, all feeling gone;
and yet I live, grief and disdain to me,
left where the light I cherished never shows,
in fragile bark on the tempestuous sea.
Here let my loving song come to a close;
the vein of my accustomed art is dry,
and this, my lyre, turned at last to tears.
The eyes I spoke of with such warmth,
The arms and hands and feet and face
Which took me away from myself
And marked me out from other people;
The waving hair of pure shining gold,
And the flash of her angelic smile,
Which used to make a paradise on earth,
Are a little dust, that feels nothing.
And yet I live, for which I grieve and despise myself,
Left without the light I loved so much,
In a great storm on an unprotected raft.
Here let there be an end to my loving song:
The vein of my accustomed invention has run dry,
And my lyre is turned to tears.
Gli occhi di ch'io parlai sì caldamente,
et le braccia et le mani e i piedi e 'l viso,
che m'avean sì da me stesso diviso,
et fatto singular da l'altra gente;
le crespe chiome d'òr puro lucente
'l lampeggiar de l'angelico riso,
che solean fare in terra un paradiso,
poca polvere son, che nulla sente.
Et io pur vivo, onde mi doglio e sdegno,
rimaso senza 'l lume ch'amai tanto,
in gran fortuna e 'n disarmato legno.
Or sia qui fine al mio amoroso canto:
secca è la vena de l'usato ingegno,
et la cetera mia rivolta in pianto.
Directions: Please choose a sonnet by Petrarch (see link below). Cut and paste it into your post, and analyze it using the terminology we learned in class (see "The Poetry Cheet Sheet" below). Most importantly, include a detailed personal analysis of the poem in your post.
The Poetry Cheat Sheet
Tone: This is the attitude of the speaker of the poem. You always have to consider the tone of the speaker even if you’re not specifically asked to analyze it. Tone relates to many of elements below. It’s a “big-picture” or “umbrella” concept. (You should have a “bank” of words in mind: angry, happy, carefree, bitter, sympathetic, sad, nostalgic, ironic, satirical, etc.)
Repetition: Poets often rely on repetition. This can be words, phrases, sounds, images, ideas. If a poet repeats something, it takes on more meaning.
Diction: This refers to words. What words does the poet use? Does he repeat any specific words? What connotation do the words have (positive, negative)?
Syntax/Structure: Do the sentences within the poem or stanzas have a recognizable structure? Does the structure or pattern change at a specific moment?
Imagery (sensory details): This refers to the images of the poem, especially those that appeal to many senses (sight, sound, taste, touch, smell).
Sounds: Sound is often conveyed in poetry. Look for rhyme and repetition, and things such as alliteration, consonance, and assonance (which are repetitions of specific types of sound).
Metaphors/Similes: Comparisons are often used to support imagery, but they can also be used to anchor a poem, to convey a poem’s main message. Any time a poet compares something to something else, you should take note of it.
Irony: This is HUGE in poetry. If something is said or happens that is unexpected, it’s ironic. If it’s sarcastic or satirical, it’s ironic. If you can recognize irony, you’re golden.
Allusion: This is a literary or historical reference. It is not as common on the AP exam, but you should know what it is and how it works.
Rhythm/Rhyme: This is covered with other elements above. This just refers to the recognizable pattern of a poem that gives it a sense of rhythm and flow.
Also: Sestet (six line stanza), Octet (eight line stanza), Quatrain (four line stanza), couplet (two line stanza)
Drew Wachtel
ReplyDelete‘Solo et pensoso i piú deserti campi’
Alone and thoughtful, through the most desolate fields,
I go measuring out slow, hesitant paces,
and keep my eyes intent on fleeing
any place where human footsteps mark the sand.
I find no other defence to protect me
from other people’s open notice,
since in my aspect, whose joy is quenched,
they see from outside how I flame within.
So now I believe that mountains and river-banks
and rivers and forests know the quality
of my life, hidden from others.
Yet I find there is no path so wild or harsh
that love will not always come there
speaking with me, and I with him.
The first two quadrants of this poem are Rhythm. The first two quadrants are about his escape with a slow ambulation of people and their looks, or even the noise of everyday life and its obligations; in fact he yearns to entrust his feelings to an absolute and hermetic solitude. In the first stanza , and in general for almost the entire duration of the composition. The last two quadrants follow the ABC ABC format that this poet is known for doing. It is also has repeated Rhymes all throughout the second half of this poem. The second half of this poem is about the author crosses between "mountains and ponds and rivers and forests": through this polisindeto a vague and indeterminate landscape is effectively outlined, symbolizing nature itself, that the tortured lover sees compassionate custodian of the secret of his consternation
Lucas Kaufman
ReplyDelete16. ‘Movesi il vecchierel canuto et biancho’
Grizzled and white the old man leaves
the sweet place, where he has provided for his life,
and leaves the little family, filled with dismay
that sees its dear father failing it:
then, from there, dragging his aged limbs
through the last days of his life,
aiding himself by what strength of will he can,
broken by years, and wearied by the road:
he reaches Rome, following his desire,
to gaze on the image of Him
whom he hopes to see again in heaven:
so, alas, I sometimes go searching,
lady, as far as is possible, in others
for the true, desired form of you.
While reading this Petrarch poem, I noticed a lot of metaphors are used, from the old man’s state of brokenness and weariness from the road of life coming to an end, to his reaching “Rome”, clearly thought of by Petrarch as the capital of the Christian world, or maybe just the closest place to heaven that existed on Earth at that time. Something I found strange in the structure of the poem is that Rhymes were barely used, though it is possible that this is attributed to the poem having been translated from 14th-century Italian. To me, the old man is Petrarch himself, and this poem is about his final days and death. He dies in the octet, in the place where he seems to have lived for most of his adult life, leaving behind a saddened family and dragging his weary self up to heaven. He reaches Rome, a metaphor for heaven, in the sestet, and says that he has a love who has died, who I assume is the same woman Petrarch mentions in a good number of his other poems, and that he is excited to see her again.
Julia Campbell
ReplyDelete169 ‘Pien d’un vago penser che me desvia’
Full of a wandering thought that separates me
from all other men, and makes me go lonely through the world,
hour after hour I am tempted from myself
searching for her, whom I should fly from:
and I see her go by so sweet and deadly
that my soul trembles to rise in flight,
she leads such a troop of armed sighs with her,
this beautiful enemy of Love, and of me.
Truly if I am not wrong I see a ray of pity
shine from that high clouded brow,
which partly brightens my grieving heart:
then I recall my soul, and when I start
to reveal my ill-conceived thoughts to her,
I have so much to say to her, I dare not begin.
The tone of this poem is that the writer essentially has a crush on a girl he’s been admiring for a while, but he doesn't have the courage to tell her. This sonnet has a repetition of contrasting words in each line, for example, “ Sweet… deadly... Enemy… love”. The writer refers to the sight of a girl, and his feelings of love towards her but there is no substantial connection between the two. There's a subtle irony there between each line because the author has such strong, remarkable feelings for this girl that he's never even spoken to. There are also a few light metaphors in this poem, like “she leads such a troop of armed sighs with her”.
Personally, I really like this poem because it describes something so perfect yet unreachable. The Author of this poem wants something so badly but is worried that by reaching out, he may ruin that perfection that he sees, so he stays at a distance admiring her, like a non-creepy stalker😂.
21. ‘Mille fiate, o dolce mia guerrera,’
ReplyDeleteI have offered you my heart a thousand times
O my sweet warrior, only to make peace
with your lovely eyes: but it does not please you
with your noble mind, to stoop so low.
And if some other lady has hope of it,
she lives in powerless, deceiving hope:
and it can never be what it was to me,
since I too disdain what does not please you.
Now if I banish it, and it does not find in you
any aid in its unhappy exile, nor knows
how to be alone, nor to go where others call to it,
it might stray from its natural course:
which would be a grave crime for both of us,
and more for you, since it loves you more.
This poem has a specific structure of two, three line stanzas and then two, two line stanzas. The tone of this poem seems to be very sad. The character almost seems to be in agony about a woman who doesn't seem to like him back and how he thinks that he does not please her. In the beginning of the poem the author uses the term to describe the woman as a "sweet warrior". I believe that this is a metaphor for how sweet the woman is but also how she can be confident and strong. Also is the beginning, the author writes, "I have offered you my heart a thousand times" this is showing irony because it seems as if the man must truly does love this woman but she does not love him back.
Personally, I enjoyed reading this poem. I liked trying to figure out what the whole story of the poem means and seeing how things might turn out in the end. I did feel bad for the man character in the end though because he felt that he wasn't enough for the woman.
Peyton Levental ^^^^^
DeleteEvan Brenner
ReplyDeleteThe poem I chose was ‘Padre del ciel, dopo i perduti giorni,’. The tone of the poem is deep and dark. There isn’t really any repetition in the poem. Even though the poet doesn’t really use a repetition the words have a kind of negative connotation. There is only one stanza in the poem. There is not really a specific syntax in this poem. In this poem the imagery I see is a sad man walking around with nobody to talk to. One example is, “after the nights spent wandering”. I can picture somebody lonely thinking about their life and not knowing what to do. I don’t really say any sounds in this poem. There is really no specific rhyme/rhythm. There is really no irony or illusion in this poem. The poem in English means “Father of heaven, after the lost days”.
My poem:
DeleteHeavenly Father, after the lost days,
after the nights spent wandering,
with that fierce desire that burned in my heart,
gazing on limbs so adorned as to do me harm,
now may it please you by Your light that I turn
to the greater life and more beautiful work,
so that my harsh adversary having cast
his nets in vain, may be discredited.
Now, my Lord, the eleventh year revolves
since I was bowed under the pitiless yoke,
which to those most subject to it is most fierce.
Have pity on my unworthy suffering:
lead back my wandering thoughts to a better place:
remind them how you hung, today, upon the cross.
Sophia Lakos
ReplyDelete‘Quando ’l pianeta che distingue l’ore’
When the heavenly body that tells the hours
has returned to the constellation of Taurus,
power from the burning horns descends
that clothes the world with new colours:
and not only in that which lies before us,
banks and hills, adorned with flowers,
but within where already the earthly moisture
pregnant with itself, adds nothing further,
so that fruits and such are gathered:
as she, who is the sun among those ladies,
shining the rays of her lovely eyes on me
creates thoughts of love, actions and words;
but whether she governs them or turns away,
there is no longer any Spring for me.
The tone of this poem is very creative and convincing. The writer makes it sound so beautiful, and it all flows together really well. There is not any repetition in this it actually seems to keep changing. It is set up in Quatrain stanzas for the most part. There are many imageries the writer was great at describing. You feel like you are apart of this poem when reading it. There are also a lot of metaphors in this as it seems that he is describing a girl by using nature. There does not seem to be much irony it is more happy than sad as the writer is saying all good things. Overall my personal opinion on this poem is that I loved how happy it is. It was very convincing and captured my attention out of all of them.
‘Per fare una leggiadra sua vendetta’
ReplyDeleteTo make a graceful act of revenge,
and punish a thousand wrongs in a single day,
Love secretly took up his bow again,
like a man who waits the time and place to strike.
My power was constricted in my heart,
making defence there, and in my eyes,
when the mortal blow descended there,
where all other arrows had been blunted.
So, confused by the first assault,
it had no opportunity or strength
to take up arms when they were needed,
or withdraw me shrewdly to the high,
steep hill, out of the torment,
from which it wishes to save me now but cannot.
The tone is very dark. The poem is talking about someone's revenge. To have the tone being dark is very disturbing. When I think of a poem I think of the a happy line of fun, not someone taking revenge.
Ben Worthley
Deletewho wrote this?
DeleteMitch Keamy
ReplyDelete‘La gola e ’l sonno et l’otïose piume’
Greed and sleep and slothful beds
have banished every virtue from the world,
so that, overcome by habit,
our nature has almost lost its way.
And all the benign lights of heaven,
that inform human life, are so spent,
that he who wishes to bring down a stream
from Helicon is pointed out as a wonder.
Such desire for laurel, and for myrtle?
‘Poor and naked goes philosophy’,
say the crowd intent on base profit.
You’ll have poor company on that other road:
So much the more I beg you, gentle spirit,
not to turn from your great undertaking.
The tone of this poem is dark. The poem describes how humans have adapted to be servants to each other and how nature has lost its beauty due to people mistreating it, and disturbing it by building on top of it. The poem also describes how life has turned from a miracle to a chore.
I totally agree with your thoughts on the poem I think you captured what authors wrote very well
DeleteSophia lakos^^
DeleteFrankie huntress
ReplyDeleteVoi ch’ascoltate in rime sparse il suono’
You who hear the sound, in scattered rhymes,
of those sighs on which I fed my heart,
in my first vagrant youthfulness,
when I was partly other than I am,
I hope to find pity, and forgiveness,
for all the modes in which I talk and weep,
between vain hope and vain sadness,
in those who understand love through its trials.
Yet I see clearly now I have become
an old tale amongst all these people, so that
it often makes me ashamed of myself;
and shame is the fruit of my vanities,
and remorse, and the clearest knowledge
of how the world’s delight is a brief dream.
The tone of this poem is very sad. It repeats how the righter is ashembed of her self and how she is always sad.it reapeats the word shame and this has a negitive feel to the poem.it realy dosent repeat its self for it only rymes twice.the imigry shows her crying in bed and how her shame is the fruit of her vanities.one metophore it is how shame is the fruit of her vaniteys.it ryms when it says in my vagrent youthfulness i hope to find pity and forgivness.
The poem I chose was ‘Padre del ciel, dopo i perduti giorni,’.
ReplyDeleteThe tone of the poem is dark. Even though the poet doesn’t really use a repetition the words have a kind of negative connotation. There is only one stanza. There is not really a specific syntax in this poem. In this poem the imagery I see is a sad man alone and heartbroken. One example is, “after the nights spent wandering”. I can picture somebody lonely thinking about their life and not knowing what to do. I don’t really say any sounds in this poem.. There is no irony or illusion in this poem. The poem in English means “Father of heaven, after the lost days”.
james kiladis
Lu as Kaufman (som of my k ys stopp working)
DeleteI lik what you sai about your po m, but wh r is th po m?
You who hear the sound, in scattered rhymes,
ReplyDeleteof those sighs on which I fed my heart,
in my first vagrant youthfulness,
when I was partly other than I am,
I hope to find pity, and forgiveness,
for all the modes in which I talk and weep,
between vain hope and vain sadness,
in those who understand love through its trials.
Yet I see clearly now I have become
an old tale amongst all these people, so that
it often makes me ashamed of myself;
and shame is the fruit of my vanities,
and remorse, and the clearest knowledge
of how the world’s delight is a brief dream.
The tone of this poem is sad, because some of the lines are, "it often makes me ashamed of myself", "for all the modes which I talk and weep."
Rene Roustand
DeleteDavis Blanch
ReplyDelete‘Lassare il velo o per sole o per ombra’
I have not seen you, lady,
leave off your veil in sun or shadow,
since you knew that great desire in myself
that all other wishes in the heart desert me.
While I held the lovely thoughts concealed,
that make the mind desire death,
I saw your face adorned with pity:
but when Love made you wary of me,
then blonde hair was veiled,
and loving glances gathered to themselves.
That which I most desired in you is taken from me:
the veil so governs me
that to my death, and by heat and cold,
the sweet light of your lovely eyes is shadowed.
The tone of the poem is sad like the poet lost someone. The poet makes you imagine someone they could have loved but they had lost them to death. When I think of a poem I think of playful, fun, and uplifting not depressing and having the tone of loss.
Jayden Cho
ReplyDelete10/29/18
61. ‘Benedetto sia ‘l giorno, et ‘l mese, et l’anno,’
Blessed by the day, and the month, and the year,
and the season, and the time, and the hour, and the moment,
and the beautiful country, and the place where I was joined
to the two beautiful eyes that have bound me:
and blessed be the first sweet suffering
that I felt in being conjoined with Love,
and the bow, and the shafts with which I was pierced,
And the wounds that run to the depths of my heart.
Blessed be all those verses I scattered
calling out the name of my Lady,
and the sighs, and the tears, and the passion:
and blessed be all the sheets
where I acquire fame, and my thoughts,
that are only of her, that no one else has part of.
The attitude of this speaker seems to be very thankful and happy at first, but leads into a very sadistic and depressing mood/tone. This could be a relationship, and how it lead into the breaking apart of them. The poet repeats “blessed” many times throughout the poem yet is used in a different meaning later on. There is one metaphor that really intrigued me, which was when the poet talks about the arrow piercing through their heart, and from then on turns the poem dramatically. The irony about this poem is the meaning of the word blessed, where at first is used for the speaker to say all things she is thankful for, and the mood is very cheerful and happy. However, it shifts into almost a rant or sad poem pleading for the other person to come back, to continue their relationship.
Sean WIlen
ReplyDeleteBlessed be the day, and the month, and the year,
and the season, and the time, and the hour, and the moment,
and the beautiful country, and the place where I was joined
to the two beautiful eyes that have bound me:
and blessed be the first sweet suffering
that I felt in being conjoined with Love,
and the bow, and the shafts with which I was pierced,
and the wounds that run to the depths of my heart.
Blessed be all those verses I scattered
calling out the name of my lady,
and the sighs, and the tears, and the passion:
and blessed be all the sheets
where I acquire fame, and my thoughts,
that are only of her, that no one else has part of.
Lucy Elerath:
ReplyDelete106. ‘Nova angeletta sovra l’ale accorta’
A new young angel carried by her wings
descended from the sky to the green bank,
there where I passed, alone, to my destiny,
When she saw I was without companion,
or guard, she stretched a noose, woven of silk,
in the grass, with which the way was turfed.
Then I was captured: and later it did not displease me,
so sweet a light issued from her eyes.
The tone of the sonnet seems to be hopeful and is a person describing how they see someone in a new light. The sonnet is about a man that sees a girl he is mesmerized by, he describes her as an angel- she is elegant and beautiful- and he says she comes at first when she chooses him he is in shock and figures out that he likes that he chose her. He gives more description of his awe of her the lines are ABC. I like how it was written, the sonnet is he is admiring from afar and once she “captures” him and he is later finding he likes her and getting to be with her.