A Matchless Courtesy
Blest spirit, who with loving tendernessQuickenest my heart so old and near to die,Who mid thy joys on me dost bend an eyeThough many nobler men around thee press!As thou wert erewhile wont my sight to bless,So to console my mind thou now dost fly;Hope therefore stills the pangs of memory,Which coupled with desire my soul distress.So finding in thee grace to plead for me--Thy thoughts for me sunk in so sad a case--He who now writes, returns thee thanks for these.Lo, it were foul and monstrous usuryTo send thee ugliest paintings in the placeOf thy fair spirit's living phantasies.
Words in this poem
- erewhile adv.
- Some time ago; a little while before; heretofore.
- usury n.
- A premium or increase paid, or stipulated to be paid, for a loan, as of money; interest. [OE. usurie, usure, F. usure, L. usura use, usury, interest, fr. uti, p. p. usus, to use. See Use, v. t.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Matchless Courtesy is in the public domain. This text is taken from Sonnets, 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: Michelangelo Buonarroti, A Matchless Courtesy, in Sonnets (1878), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10314, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/michelangelo-sonnets/a-matchless-courtesy.html, id L15154.
Form and metre
A Matchless Courtesy is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 29% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABBAAB-ABC--C- tendernessA · dieB · eyeB · pressA · blessA · flyB · memory · distressA · meB · caseC · these · usury · placeC · phantasies
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Blest spirit, who with loving tenderness | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘˘ |
| Quickenest my heart so old and near to die, | 10 | /˘········ |
| Who mid thy joys on me dost bend an eye | 10 | ·········· |
| Though many nobler men around thee press! | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| As thou wert erewhile wont my sight to bless, | 12 | ············ |
| So to console my mind thou now dost fly; | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| Hope therefore stills the pangs of memory, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Which coupled with desire my soul distress. | 10 | ·/˘·˘/··˘/ |
| So finding in thee grace to plead for me-- | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Thy thoughts for me sunk in so sad a case-- | 10 | ·········· |
| He who now writes, returns thee thanks for these. | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Lo, it were foul and monstrous usury | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
| To send thee ugliest paintings in the place | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Of thy fair spirit's living phantasies. | 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.