He Attempts to Paint Her Beauties, but Not Her Virtues
She, for whose sake fair Arno I resign,And for free poverty court-affluence spurn,Has known to sour the precious sweets to turnOn which I lived, for which I burn and pine.Though since, the vain attempt has oft been mineThat future ages from my song should learnHer heavenly beauties, and like me should burn,My poor verse fails her sweet face to define.The gifts, though all her own, which others share,Which were but stars her bright sky scatter'd o'er,Haply of these to sing e'en I might dare;But when to the diviner part I soar,To the dull world a brief and brilliant light,Courage and wit and art are baffled quite.
Words in this poem
- spurn v. t.
- To drive back or away, as with the foot; to kick. [OE. spurnen to kick against, to stumble over, AS. spurnan to kick, offend; akin to spura spur, OS. & OHG. spurnan to kick, Icel. spyrna, L. spernere to despise,]
- haply adv.
- By hap, chance, luck, or accident; perhaps; it may be.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
He Attempts to Paint Her Beauties, but Not Her Virtues 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, He Attempts to Paint Her Beauties, but Not Her Virtues, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/he-attempts-to-paint-her-beauties-but-not-her-virtues.html, id L14906.
Form and metre
He Attempts to Paint Her Beauties, but Not Her Virtues 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 83%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 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 resignA · spurnB · turnB · pineA · mineA · learnB · burnB · defineA · shareC · o'erD · dareC · soarD · lightC · quiteD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| She, for whose sake fair Arno I resign, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| And for free poverty court-affluence spurn, | 10 | ···/˘·/˘˘· |
| Has known to sour the precious sweets to turn | 10 | ···/·/˘··· |
| On which I lived, for which I burn and pine. | 10 | ·········· |
| Though since, the vain attempt has oft been mine | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| That future ages from my song should learn | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Her heavenly beauties, and like me should burn, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| My poor verse fails her sweet face to define. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| The gifts, though all her own, which others share, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Which were but stars her bright sky scatter'd o'er, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Haply of these to sing e'en I might dare; | 10 | /˘········ |
| But when to the diviner part I soar, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| To the dull world a brief and brilliant light, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Courage and wit and art are baffled quite. | 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.