"Upon a day, came Sorrow in to me."

"Upon a day, came Sorrow in to me." -Dante (1290)

Upon a day, came Sorrow in to me,

         Saying, ‘I’ve come to stay with thee a while’;

         And I perceived that she had ushered Bile

And Pain into my house for company.

Wherefore I said, ‘Go forth – away with thee!’

         But like a Greek she answered, full of guile,

         And went on arguing in an easy style.

Then, looking, I saw Love come silently,

Habited in black raiment, smooth and new,

         Having a black hat set upon his hair;

And certainly the tears he shed were true.

         So that I asked, ‘What ails thee, trifler?’

Answering, he said: ‘A grief to be gone through;

         For our own lady’s dying, brother dear.’

In “Upon a day, Sorrow came in to me,” Dante narrates an experience with two different, and seemingly opposing, feelings. He personifies Sorrow and Love in a manner that joins the two in some sort of camaraderie rather than placing them in opposition to one another. Though the speaker dreads the coming of the first, he gains a new perspective of it with the help of the second.

The Italian or Petrarchan sonnet highlights the last four stanzas. With this in mind, Dante directs much of the meaning of the sonnet and the reader’s attention to this section. Furthermore, these last four lines contain Love's only dialogue with the speaker. 

Dante's tone shifts when Love, characterized as male, "silently" enters the scene. Ironically, Love is dressed in mourning. His emotions are somber and respectful, whereas the Sorrow's "guile" trivializes the speaker's emotions. Furthermore, where Love is silent,  Sorrow argues "with an easy style." This shift involving seriousness of tone and noise imagery leads the reader, predictably, to detest Sorrow. However, unpredictably, Dante reveals Love's absolute compassion towards all things, including Sorrow. His genuine response to the speaker’s question leads the reader to question his or her understanding of Sorrow.

This revelation expresses the depth of one's need to experience both Sorrow and Love. Without the conjunction of the two, each emotion’s profundity is lost. For the speaker, hope was borne from Sorrow with the coming of Love.