True and False Nobility
Valour and mind form real nobility,The which bears fruit and shows a fair increaseBy doughty actions: these and nought but theseConfer true patents of gentility.Money is false and light unless it beBought by a man's own worthy qualities;And blood is such that its corrupt diseaseAnd ignorant pretence are foul to see.Honours that ought to yield more true a type,Europe, thou measurest by fortune still,To thy great hurt; and this thy foe perceives:He rates the tree by fruits mature and ripe,Not by mere shadows, roots, and verdant leaves:--Why then neglect so grave a cause of ill?
Words in this poem
- doughty a.
- Able; strong; valiant; redoubtable; as, a doughty hero.
- gentility n.
- Good extraction; dignity of birth. [L. gentilitas the relationship of those who belong to the same clan, also, heathenism: cf. F. gentilité heathenism. See Gentile.]
- pretence n.
- The act of laying claim; the claim laid; assumption; pretension. [LL. praetensus, for L. praetentus, p. p. of praetendere. See Pretend, and cf. Tension.]
- ought p. p.
- Was or were under obligation to pay; owed. [Orig. the preterit of the verb to owe. OE. oughte, aughte, ahte, AS. ahte. sq. root110. See Owe.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
True and False Nobility 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, True and False Nobility, in Sonnets (1878), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10314, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/michelangelo-sonnets/true-and-false-nobility.html, id L15242.
Form and metre
True and False Nobility is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 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 --A-BAABCDECED nobility · increase · theseA · gentility · beB · qualitiesA · diseaseA · seeB · typeC · stillD · perceivesE · ripeC · leavesE · illD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Valour and mind form real nobility, | 10 | /˘····˘/˘˘ |
| The which bears fruit and shows a fair increase | 10 | ········˘/ |
| By doughty actions: these and nought but these | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Confer true patents of gentility. | 10 | ˘/·/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| Money is false and light unless it be | 10 | /˘········ |
| Bought by a man's own worthy qualities; | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
| And blood is such that its corrupt disease | 10 | ······˘/˘/ |
| And ignorant pretence are foul to see. | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| Honours that ought to yield more true a type, | 10 | /˘········ |
| Europe, thou measurest by fortune still, | 10 | /˘·/˘˘·/˘· |
| To thy great hurt; and this thy foe perceives: | 10 | ········˘/ |
| He rates the tree by fruits mature and ripe, | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Not by mere shadows, roots, and verdant leaves:-- | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| Why then neglect so grave a cause of ill? | 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.