Self-Love
Self-love fools man with false opinionThat earth, air, water, fire, the stars we see,Though stronger and more beautiful than we,Feel nought, love not, but move for us alone.Then all the tribes of earth except his ownSeem to him senseless, rude--God lets them be:To kith and kin next shrinks his sympathy,Till in the end loves only self each one.Learning he shuns that he may live at ease;And since the world is little to his mind,God and God's ruling Forethought he denies.Craft he calls wisdom; and, perversely blind,Seeking to reign, erects new deities:At last 'I make the Universe!' he cries.
Words in this poem
- kith n.
- Acquaintance; kindred. [OE. kith, cu, AS. cc known. Uncouth, Can, and cf. Kythe.]
- forethought a.
- Thought of, or planned, beforehand; aforethought; prepense; hence, deliberate.
- craft n.
- Strength; might; secret power. [AS. cr strength, skill, art, cunning; akin to OS., G., Sw., & Dan. kraft strength, D. kracht, Icel. kraptr; perh. originally, a drawing together, stretching, fr]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Self-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, Self-Love, in Sonnets (1878), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10314, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/michelangelo-sonnets/self-love.html, id L15227.
Form and metre
Self-Love is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 14% 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--CDEDCE opinionA · seeB · weB · aloneA · ownA · beB · sympathy · one · easeC · mindD · deniesE · blindD · deitiesC · criesE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Self-love fools man with false opinion | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| That earth, air, water, fire, the stars we see, | 10 | ···/˘/···· |
| Though stronger and more beautiful than we, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘·· |
| Feel nought, love not, but move for us alone. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Then all the tribes of earth except his own | 10 | ·········· |
| Seem to him senseless, rude--God lets them be: | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| To kith and kin next shrinks his sympathy, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Till in the end loves only self each one. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Learning he shuns that he may live at ease; | 10 | /˘········ |
| And since the world is little to his mind, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| God and God's ruling Forethought he denies. | 10 | ···/˘/··˘/ |
| Craft he calls wisdom; and, perversely blind, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| Seeking to reign, erects new deities: | 10 | /˘··˘/·/˘˘ |
| At last 'I make the Universe!' he cries. | 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.