San Francesco d'Assisi: Laudes Creaturarum
For Thee, O high and mighty, my good Lord,Praise, glory, honour, blessing be outpoured,Since only these do well become Thy fame ;In worthiness no wight may say Thy name.Be praised, Lord, through Thy creatures one by one,But chiefly through messer and brother SunWho lighteth up the day for us, and heIs beautiful and passing bright to seeAnd doth Thee manifest, almighty Lord.Praised be through sister Moon and Stars that shineUp in the skies so clear and sweet and fine.Thy praise through brother Wind and Air and Cloud,Fair Time and every other be allowedWith whom Thou dost Thy creatures all sustain.Praised be through sister Water, Lord, again,So useful, costly, chaste, and humbly dight.Praised be through brother Fire, who doth alightThe darkness and is fair and gay and free.Praised, Lord, through sister Earth, our mother, be,Who feedeth and doth offer life untoAll kinds of fruits, grass, flowers of every hue.Praised be through who forgive for love of TheeAnd who sustain grief and infirmity.Blest be who peacefully themselves do bear,For they, O Lord, Thy crown will surely wear.Praised be, O Lord, through sister Bodily-DeathFrom whom no living wight may ever flee.Woe unto them who draw their latest breathIn mortal sin ! Blest who Thy holy willObey, no second death can bring them ill.O Lord, my praises, blessings, thanks to Thee,And let me serve Thee with humility. Amen.
Words in this poem
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
- worthiness n.
- The quality or state of being worthy; desert; merit; excellence; dignity; virtue; worth.
- wight n.
- A whit; a bit; a jot. [OE. wight, wiht, a wight, a whit, AS. wiht, wuht, a creature, a thing; skin to D. wicht a child, OS. & OHG. wiht a creature, thing, G. wicht a creature, Icel. v]
- humbly adv.
- With humility; lowly.
- dight v. t.
- To prepare; to put in order; hence, to dress, or put on; to array; to adorn. [OF. dihten, AS. dihtan to dictate, command, dispose, arrange, fr. L. dictare to say often, dictate, order; cf. G. dichten to write poetry, fr. L. dictare. See D]
- amen interj.
- An expression used at the end of prayers, and meaning, So be it. At the end of a creed, it is a solemn asseveration of belief. [L. amen, Gr. am certainly, truly.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
San Francesco d'Assisi: Laudes Creaturarum is in the public domain. This text is taken from An Anthology of Italian Poems, 13th to 19th Century, Selected & Translated by Lorna de' Lucchi, Internet Archive, the Lorna de' Lucchi 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: Various, San Francesco d'Assisi: Laudes Creaturarum, in An Anthology of Italian Poems (Selections), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/italian-anthology-de-lucchi/san-francesco-d-assisi-laudes-creaturarum.html, id L26474.
Form and metre
San Francesco d'Assisi: Laudes Creaturarum is 32 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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 AABBCCDD-EEFF--GGHH--H-IIJKJLLK- lordA · outpouredA · fameB · nameB · oneC · sunC · heD · seeD · lord · shineE · fineE · cloudF · allowedF · sustain · again · dightG · alightG · freeH · beH · unto · hue · theeH · infirmity · bearI · wearI · deathJ · fleeK · breathJ · willL · illL · theeK · amen
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 |
|---|---|---|
| For Thee, O high and mighty, my good Lord, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Praise, glory, honour, blessing be outpoured, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··/ |
| Since only these do well become Thy fame ; | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| In worthiness no wight may say Thy name. | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| Be praised, Lord, through Thy creatures one by one, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| But chiefly through messer and brother Sun | 10 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘· |
| Who lighteth up the day for us, and he | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Is beautiful and passing bright to see | 10 | ·/˘˘·/˘··· |
| And doth Thee manifest, almighty Lord. | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| Praised be through sister Moon and Stars that shine | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Up in the skies so clear and sweet and fine. | 10 | ·········· |
| Thy praise through brother Wind and Air and Cloud, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Fair Time and every other be allowed | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| With whom Thou dost Thy creatures all sustain. | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Praised be through sister Water, Lord, again, | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| So useful, costly, chaste, and humbly dight. | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Praised be through brother Fire, who doth alight | 10 | ···/˘/··˘/ |
| The darkness and is fair and gay and free. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Praised, Lord, through sister Earth, our mother, be, | 10 | ···/˘·//˘· |
| Who feedeth and doth offer life unto | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| All kinds of fruits, grass, flowers of every hue. | 10 | ·····/·/˘· |
| Praised be through who forgive for love of Thee | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| And who sustain grief and infirmity. | 10 | ··˘/··˘/˘˘ |
| Blest be who peacefully themselves do bear, | 10 | ···/˘˘˘/·· |
| For they, O Lord, Thy crown will surely wear. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Praised be, O Lord, through sister Bodily-Death | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| From whom no living wight may ever flee. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Woe unto them who draw their latest breath | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| In mortal sin ! Blest who Thy holy will | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Obey, no second death can bring them ill. | 10 | ˘/·/˘····· |
| O Lord, my praises, blessings, thanks to Thee, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| And let me serve Thee with humility. Amen. | 11 | ······˘/˘˘/ |
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.