The Universe
The world's a living creature, whole and great,God's image, praising God whose type it is;We are imperfect worms, vile families,That in its belly have our low estate.If we know not its love, its intellect,Neither the worm within my belly seeksTo know me, but his petty mischief wreaks:--Thus it behoves us to be circumspect.Again, the earth is a great animal,Within the greatest; we are like the liceUpon its body, doing harm as they.Proud men, lift up your eyes; on you I call:Measure each being's worth; and thence be wise;Learning what part in the great scheme you play!
About this text
The Universe 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 Universe, in Sonnets (1878), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10314, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/campanella-sonnets/the-universe.html, id L27804.
Form and metre
The Universe is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
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 ABBACDDCE-FE-F greatA · isB · familiesB · estateA · intellectC · seeksD · wreaksD · circumspectC · animalE · lice · theyF · callE · wise · playF
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 a living creature, whole and great, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| God's image, praising God whose type it is; | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| We are imperfect worms, vile families, | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘˘ |
| That in its belly have our low estate. | 10 | ···/˘·/·˘/ |
| If we know not its love, its intellect, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Neither the worm within my belly seeks | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| To know me, but his petty mischief wreaks:-- | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Thus it behoves us to be circumspect. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Again, the earth is a great animal, | 10 | ˘/·····/˘˘ |
| Within the greatest; we are like the lice | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Upon its body, doing harm as they. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Proud men, lift up your eyes; on you I call: | 10 | ·········· |
| Measure each being's worth; and thence be wise; | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Learning what part in the great scheme you play! | 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.