Bob's Byway

HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW

1807 - 1882




DIVINA COMMEDIA

 * This poem provides an example an Petrarchan (Italian) sonnet.
Oft have I seen at some cathedral door
    A laborer, pausing in the dust and heat,
    Lay down his burden, and with reverent feet
    Enter, and cross himself, and on the floor
Kneel to repeat his paternoster o'er;
    Far off the noises of the world retreat;
    The loud vociferations of the street
    Become an undistinguishable roar.
So, as I enter here from day to day,
    And leave my burden at this minster gate,
To Sonnet in the Glossary
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To Petrarchan Sonnet in the Glossary
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    Kneeling in prayer, and not ashamed to pray,
The tumult of the time disconsolate
    To inarticulate murmurs dies away,
    While the eternal ages watch and wait.