Courtesy
Of Courtesy, it is much lessThan Courage of Heart or Holiness,Yet in my Walks it seems to meThat the Grace of God is in Courtesy.
On Monks I did in Storrington fall,They took me straight into their Hall;I saw Three Pictures on a wall,And Courtesy was in them all.
The first the Annunciation;The second the Visitation;The third the Consolation,Of God that was Our Lady’s Son.
The first was of Saint Gabriel;On Wings a-flame from Heaven he fell;And as he went upon one kneeHe shone with Heavenly Courtesy.
Our Lady out of Nazareth rode--It was Her month of heavy load;Yet was Her face both great and kind,For Courtesy was in Her Mind.
The third it was our Little Lord,Whom all the Kings in arms adored;He was so small you could not seeHis large intent of Courtesy.
Our Lord, that was Our Lady’s Son,Go bless you, People, one by one;My Rhyme is written, my work is done.
Words in this poem
- annunciation n.
- The act of announcing; announcement; proclamation; as, the annunciation of peace. [L. annuntiatio: cf. F. annonciation.]
- visitation n.
- The act of visiting, or the state of being visited; access for inspection or examination. [L. visitatio: cf. F. visitation.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- rode n.
- Redness; complexion. [See Rud.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Courtesy is in the public domain. This text is taken from Sonnets and Verse, Project Gutenberg ebook #60663; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Hilaire Belloc, Courtesy, in Sonnets and Verse (1923), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #60663, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/belloc-sonnets-verse/courtesy.html, id L21652.
Form and metre
Courtesy is 27 lines in 7 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 74% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%).
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 AA-- lessA · holinessA · me · courtesy
- 2 AAAA fallA · hallA · wallA · allA
- 3 AAAA annunciationA · visitationA · consolationA · sonA
- 4 AA-- gabrielA · fellA · knee · courtesy
- 5 AABB rodeA · loadA · kindB · mindB
- 6 AA-- lordA · adoredA · see · courtesy
- 7 AAA sonA · oneA · doneA
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Of Courtesy, it is much less | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| Than Courage of Heart or Holiness, | 9 | ·/˘···/˘˘ |
| Yet in my Walks it seems to me | 8 | ········ |
| That the Grace of God is in Courtesy. | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| On Monks I did in Storrington fall, | 9 | ········· |
| They took me straight into their Hall; | 8 | ········ |
| I saw Three Pictures on a wall, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And Courtesy was in them all. | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| The first the Annunciation; | 5 | ····· |
| The second the Visitation; | 8 | ·/˘··˘/˘ |
| The third the Consolation, | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Of God that was Our Lady’s Son. | 8 | ····//˘· |
| The first was of Saint Gabriel; | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| On Wings a-flame from Heaven he fell; | 8 | ·····/·· |
| And as he went upon one knee | 8 | ········ |
| He shone with Heavenly Courtesy. | 9 | ···/˘˘/˘˘ |
| Our Lady out of Nazareth rode-- | 8 | //˘··/˘· |
| It was Her month of heavy load; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Yet was Her face both great and kind, | 8 | ········ |
| For Courtesy was in Her Mind. | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| The third it was our Little Lord, | 8 | ····//˘· |
| Whom all the Kings in arms adored; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| He was so small you could not see | 8 | ········ |
| His large intent of Courtesy. | 8 | ··˘/·/˘˘ |
| Our Lord, that was Our Lady’s Son, | 8 | /···//˘· |
| Go bless you, People, one by one; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| My Rhyme is written, my work is done. | 9 | ···/˘···· |
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.