The Book of Nature
The world's the book where the eternal SenseWrote his own thoughts; the living temple where,Painting his very self, with figures fairHe filled the whole immense circumference.Here then should each man read, and gazing findBoth how to live and govern, and bewareOf godlessness; and, seeing God all-where,Be bold to grasp the universal mind.But we tied down to books and temples dead,Copied with countless errors from the life,--These nobler than that school sublime we call.O may our senseless souls at length be ledTo truth by pain, grief, anguish, trouble, strife!Turn we to read the one original!
Words in this poem
- wrote v. i.
- To root with the snout. See 1st Root. [OE. wroten. See 1st Root.]
- beware v. t.
- To avoid; to take care of; to have a care for.
- countless a.
- Incapable of being counted; not ascertainable; innumerable.
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Book of Nature is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Sonnets of Michael Angelo Buonarroti and Tommaso Campanella, Project Gutenberg ebook #10314, the John Addington Symonds 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: Tommaso Campanella, The Book of Nature, in Sonnets (1878), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10314, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/campanella-sonnets/the-book-of-nature.html, id L27806.
Form and metre
The Book of Nature is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBACBBCDEFDEF. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
See 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 ABBACBBCDEFDEF senseA · whereB · fairB · circumferenceA · findC · bewareB · whereB · mindC · deadD · lifeE · callF · ledD · strifeE · originalF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The world's the book where the eternal Sense | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Wrote his own thoughts; the living temple where, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Painting his very self, with figures fair | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| He filled the whole immense circumference. | 10 | ··˘··˘/˘/˘ |
| Here then should each man read, and gazing find | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Both how to live and govern, and beware | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Of godlessness; and, seeing God all-where, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Be bold to grasp the universal mind. | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| But we tied down to books and temples dead, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Copied with countless errors from the life,-- | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘··· |
| These nobler than that school sublime we call. | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| O may our senseless souls at length be led | 10 | ··//˘····· |
| To truth by pain, grief, anguish, trouble, strife! | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Turn we to read the one original! | 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.