He Celebrates the Birthplace of Laura
He that with wisdom, goodness, power divine,Did ample Nature's perfect book design,Adorn'd this beauteous world, and those above,Kindled fierce Mars, and soften'd milder Jove:When seen on earth the shadows to fulfillOf the less volume which conceal'd his will,Took John and Peter from their homely care,And made them pillars of his temple fair.Nor in imperial Rome would He be born,Whom servile Judah yet received with scorn:E'en Bethlehem could her infant King disown,And the rude manger was his early throne.Victorious sufferings did his pomp display,Nor other chariot or triumphal way.At once by Heaven's example and decree,Such honour waits on such humility.
Words in this poem
- beauteous a.
- Full of beauty; beautiful; very handsome. [Mostly poetic] -- Beau"te*ous*ly, adv. --
- jove n.
- The chief divinity of the ancient Romans; Jupiter. [L. Jupiter, gen. Jovis, OL. Jovis, nom. & gen. for Djovis; akin to E. Tuesday. See Tuesday, and cf. Jupiter.]
- fulfill v. t.
- To fill up; to make full or complete. [OE. fulfillen, fulfullen, AS. fulfyllan; ful full + fyllan to fill. See Full, a., and Fill, v. t.]
- homely a.
- Belonging to, or having the characteristics of, home; domestic; familiar; intimate. [From Home, n.]
- bethlehem n.
- A hospital for lunatics; -- corrupted into bedlam. [Heb. b house of food; b house + lekhem food, lakham to eat. Formerly the name of a hospital for the insane, in London, which had been the priory of St. Mary of ]
- manger n.
- A trough or open box in which fodder is placed for horses or cattle to eat. [F. mangeoire, fr. manger to eat, fr. L. manducare, fr. mandere to chew. Cf. Mandible, Manducate.]
- triumphal n.
- A token of victory.
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
He Celebrates the Birthplace of Laura 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 Celebrates the Birthplace of Laura, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/he-celebrates-the-birthplace-of-laura.html, id L14465.
Form and metre
He Celebrates the Birthplace of Laura is 16 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 75% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 6% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 AA--BBCCDDEEFF-- divineA · designA · above · jove · fulfillB · willB · careC · fairC · bornD · scornD · disownE · throneE · displayF · wayF · decree · humility
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 |
|---|---|---|
| He that with wisdom, goodness, power divine, | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘/ |
| Did ample Nature's perfect book design, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/··˘/ |
| Adorn'd this beauteous world, and those above, | 11 | ˘/·/˘˘····· |
| Kindled fierce Mars, and soften'd milder Jove: | 10 | /˘···/˘/˘· |
| When seen on earth the shadows to fulfill | 10 | ·····/··˘/ |
| Of the less volume which conceal'd his will, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| Took John and Peter from their homely care, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And made them pillars of his temple fair. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Nor in imperial Rome would He be born, | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Whom servile Judah yet received with scorn: | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/·· |
| E'en Bethlehem could her infant King disown, | 11 | ·/˘···/˘·˘/ |
| And the rude manger was his early throne. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Victorious sufferings did his pomp display, | 10 | ˘/˘/˘···˘/ |
| Nor other chariot or triumphal way. | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| At once by Heaven's example and decree, | 11 | ···/˘˘/˘·˘/ |
| Such honour waits on such humility. | 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.