Du Bellay: A Sonnet to Heavenly Beauty
IF this our little life is but a dayIn the Eternal,—if the years in vainToil after hours that never come again,—If everything that hath been must decay,Why dreamest thou of joys that pass away,My soul, that my sad body doth restrain?Why of the moment’s pleasure art thou fain?Nay, thou hast wings,—nay, seek another stay.
There is the joy whereto each soul aspires,And there the rest that all the world desires,And there is love, and peace, and gracious mirth;And there in the most highest heavens shalt thouBehold the Very Beauty, whereof nowThou worshippest the shadow upon earth.
Words in this poem
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- whereto adv.
- To which; -- used relatively.
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- whereof adv.
- Of which; of whom; formerly, also, with which; -- used relatively.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Du Bellay: A Sonnet to Heavenly Beauty is in the public domain. This text is taken from Ballads and Lyrics of Old France, with Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #795, the Andrew Lang 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, Du Bellay: A Sonnet to Heavenly Beauty, in Ballads and Lyrics of Old France (1872), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #795, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lang-old-france/a-sonnet-to-heavenly-beauty.html, id L26893.
Form and metre
Du Bellay: A Sonnet to Heavenly Beauty is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. 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 ABBAABBA dayA · vainB · againB · decayA · awayA · restrainB · fainB · stayA
- 2 AABCCB aspiresA · desiresA · mirthB · thouC · nowC · earthB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| IF this our little life is but a day | 10 | ··//˘····· |
| In the Eternal,—if the years in vain | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Toil after hours that never come again,— | 10 | ···/·/˘·˘/ |
| If everything that hath been must decay, | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Why dreamest thou of joys that pass away, | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| My soul, that my sad body doth restrain? | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Why of the moment’s pleasure art thou fain? | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Nay, thou hast wings,—nay, seek another stay. | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| There is the joy whereto each soul aspires, | 11 | ····˘/··˘/˘ |
| And there the rest that all the world desires, | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| And there is love, and peace, and gracious mirth; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And there in the most highest heavens shalt thou | 11 | ·····/˘/˘·· |
| Behold the Very Beauty, whereof now | 10 | ˘/·/˘/˘··· |
| Thou worshippest the shadow upon earth. | 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.