Love of Self and God
This love of self sinks man in sinful sloth:Yet, if he seek to live, he needs must feignSense, goodness, courage. Thus he dwells in pain,A sphinx, twy-souled, a false self-stunted growth.Honours, applause, and wealth these torments soothe;Till jealousy, contrasting his foul stainWith virtues eminent, by spur and reinDrives him to slay, steal, poison, break his oath.But he who loves our common Father, hathAll men for brothers, and with God doth joyIn whatsoever worketh for their bliss.Good Francis called the birds upon his pathBrethren; to him the fishes were not coy.--Oh, blest is he who comprehendeth this!
Words in this poem
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- soothe v. t.
- To assent to as true. Testament of Love. [Originally, to assent to as true; OE. so to verify, AS. ges to prove the truth of, to bear witness. See Sooth, a.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Love of Self and God 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, Love of Self and God, in Sonnets (1878), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10314, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/michelangelo-sonnets/love-of-self-and-god.html, id L15228.
Form and metre
Love of Self and God is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 43% 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-BBACDECDE slothA · feignB · painB · growthA · soothe · stainB · reinB · oathA · hathC · joyD · blissE · pathC · coyD · thisE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| This love of self sinks man in sinful sloth: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Yet, if he seek to live, he needs must feign | 10 | ·········· |
| Sense, goodness, courage. Thus he dwells in pain, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| A sphinx, twy-souled, a false self-stunted growth. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Honours, applause, and wealth these torments soothe; | 10 | /˘˘/···/·· |
| Till jealousy, contrasting his foul stain | 10 | ·/˘˘˘/˘··· |
| With virtues eminent, by spur and rein | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘···· |
| Drives him to slay, steal, poison, break his oath. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| But he who loves our common Father, hath | 10 | ····//˘/˘· |
| All men for brothers, and with God doth joy | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| In whatsoever worketh for their bliss. | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| Good Francis called the birds upon his path | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Brethren; to him the fishes were not coy.-- | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Oh, blest is he who comprehendeth this! | 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.