All Nature Would Be in Darkness Were She, Its Sun, to Perish
Where'er she moves, whatever dames among,Beauteous or graceful, matchless she below.With her fair face she makes all others showDim, as the day's bright orb night's starry throng.And Love still whispers, with prophetic tongue,--"Long as on earth is seen that glittering brow,Shall life have charms: but she shall cease to glowAnd with her all my power shall fleet along,Should Nature from the skies their twin-lights wrest;Hush every breeze, each herb and flower destroy;Strip man of reason--speech; from Ocean's breastHis tides, his tenants chase--such, earth's annoy;Yea, still more darken'd were it and unblest,Had she, thy Laura, closed her eyes to love and joy."
Words in this poem
- beauteous a.
- Full of beauty; beautiful; very handsome. [Mostly poetic] -- Beau"te*ous*ly, adv. --
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- unblest a.
- Not blest; excluded from benediction; hence, accursed; wretched. [Pref. un- not + blessed, blest.]
- laura n.
- A number of hermitages or cells in the same neighborhood occupied by anchorites who were under the same superior. C. Kingsley.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
All Nature Would Be in Darkness Were She, Its Sun, to Perish is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, the various hands 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: Petrarch, All Nature Would Be in Darkness Were She, Its Sun, to Perish, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/all-nature-would-be-in-darkness-were-she-its-sun-to-perish.html, id L14772.
Form and metre
All Nature Would Be in Darkness Were She, Its Sun, to Perish is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAABBACDCDCD, the pattern of the Italian sonnet. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.3 syllables. 21% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other Italian sonnets, 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 ABBAABBACDCDCD amongA · belowB · showB · throngA · tongueA · browB · glowB · alongA · wrestC · destroyD · breastC · annoyD · unblestC · joyD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Where'er she moves, whatever dames among, | 11 | ˘˘/···/˘··· |
| Beauteous or graceful, matchless she below. | 11 | /˘˘·/˘/˘··· |
| With her fair face she makes all others show | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Dim, as the day's bright orb night's starry throng. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And Love still whispers, with prophetic tongue,-- | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| "Long as on earth is seen that glittering brow, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Shall life have charms: but she shall cease to glow | 10 | ·········· |
| And with her all my power shall fleet along, | 10 | ·····/··˘/ |
| Should Nature from the skies their twin-lights wrest; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Hush every breeze, each herb and flower destroy; | 10 | ·/˘····/˘/ |
| Strip man of reason--speech; from Ocean's breast | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| His tides, his tenants chase--such, earth's annoy; | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Yea, still more darken'd were it and unblest, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Had she, thy Laura, closed her eyes to love and joy." | 12 | ···/˘······· |
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.