He Extols the Virtue of Laura
Tree, victory's bright guerdon, wont to crownHeroes and bards with thy triumphal leaf,How many days of mingled joy and griefHave I from thee through life's short passage known.Lady, who, reckless of the world's renown,Reapest in virtue's field fair honour's sheaf;Nor fear'st Love's limed snares, "that subtle thief,"While calm discretion on his wiles looks down.The pride of birth, with all that here we deemMost precious, gems and gold's resplendent grace.Abject alike in thy regard appear:Nay, even thine own unrivall'd beauties beamNo charm to thee--save as their circling blazeClasps fitly that chaste soul, which still thou hold'st most dear.
Words in this poem
- guerdon n.
- A reward; requital; recompense; -- used in both a good and a bad sense. [OF. guerdon, guerredon, LL. widerdonum (influenced by L. donum gift, cf. Donation ), fr. OHG. widarl; widar again, against (G. wider wieder) + lon reward, G. lo]
- triumphal n.
- A token of victory.
- discretion n.
- Disjunction; separation. Mede. [F. discrétion, L. discretio separation, difference, discernment, fr. discernere, discretum. See Discreet, Discern.]
- deem v. t.
- To decide; to judge; to sentence; to condemn. [OE. demen to judge, condemn, AS. d, fr. d doom; akin to OFries. d, OS. ad, D. doemen, OHG. tuommen, Icel. dæma, Sw. dömma, Dan. dömme, Goth. d. See Doom, n., an]
- abject a.
- Cast down; low-lying. [L. abjectus, p. p. of abjicere to throw away; ab + jacere to throw. See Jet a shooting forth.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
He Extols the Virtue 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 Extols the Virtue of Laura, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/he-extols-the-virtue-of-laura.html, id L14833.
Form and metre
He Extols the Virtue of Laura 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 86%). 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 36% 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 crownA · leafB · griefB · knownA · renownA · sheafB · thiefB · downA · deemC · graceD · appearC · beamD · blazeC · dearD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Tree, victory's bright guerdon, wont to crown | 10 | ·/˘˘·/˘··· |
| Heroes and bards with thy triumphal leaf, | 10 | /˘····˘/˘· |
| How many days of mingled joy and grief | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Have I from thee through life's short passage known. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Lady, who, reckless of the world's renown, | 10 | /˘·/˘···˘/ |
| Reapest in virtue's field fair honour's sheaf; | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| Nor fear'st Love's limed snares, "that subtle thief," | 10 | ····˘··/˘· |
| While calm discretion on his wiles looks down. | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| The pride of birth, with all that here we deem | 10 | ·········· |
| Most precious, gems and gold's resplendent grace. | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Abject alike in thy regard appear: | 10 | /˘˘/··˘/˘/ |
| Nay, even thine own unrivall'd beauties beam | 10 | ·/·····/˘· |
| No charm to thee--save as their circling blaze | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Clasps fitly that chaste soul, which still thou hold'st most dear. | 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.