Celestial Love
I saw no mortal beauty with these eyesWhen perfect peace in thy fair eyes I found;But far within, where all is holy ground,My soul felt Love, her comrade of the skies:For she was born with God in Paradise;Else should we still to transient loves be bound;But, finding these so false, we pass beyondUnto the Love of Loves that never dies.Nay, things that die, cannot assuage the thirstOf souls undying; nor EternityServes Time, where all must fade that flourisheth.Sense is not love, but lawlessness accurst:This kills the soul; while our love lifts on highOur friends on earth--higher in heaven through death.
Words in this poem
- undying a.
- Not dying; imperishable; unending; immortal; as, the undying souls of men.
- accurst p. p.
- Doomed to destruction or misery; cursed; hence, bad enough to be under the curse; execrable; detestable; exceedingly hateful; -- as, an accursed deed.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Celestial Love 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, Celestial Love, in Sonnets (1878), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10314, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/michelangelo-sonnets/celestial-love.html, id L15194.
Form and metre
Celestial Love is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 36% 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 ABBA-B-AC-DC-D eyesA · foundB · groundB · skiesA · paradise · boundB · beyond · diesA · thirstC · eternity · flourishethD · accurstC · high · deathD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I saw no mortal beauty with these eyes | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| When perfect peace in thy fair eyes I found; | 10 | ·˘/······· |
| But far within, where all is holy ground, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| My soul felt Love, her comrade of the skies: | 10 | ·····/···· |
| For she was born with God in Paradise; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Else should we still to transient loves be bound; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| But, finding these so false, we pass beyond | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Unto the Love of Loves that never dies. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Nay, things that die, cannot assuage the thirst | 10 | ····˘/˘/·· |
| Of souls undying; nor Eternity | 10 | ··˘/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| Serves Time, where all must fade that flourisheth. | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Sense is not love, but lawlessness accurst: | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| This kills the soul; while our love lifts on high | 10 | ·····/···· |
| Our friends on earth--higher in heaven through death. | 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.