Her Own Virtues Immortalise Her in Heaven, and His Praises on Earth
The air and scent, the comfort and the shadeOf my sweet laurel, and its flowery sight,That to my weary life gave rest and light,Death, spoiler of the world, has lowly laid.As when the moon our sun's eclipse has made,My lofty light has vanish'd so in night;For aid against himself I Death invite;With thoughts so dark does Love my breast invade.Thou didst but sleep, bright lady, a brief sleep,In bliss amid the chosen spirits to wake,Who gaze upon their God, distinct and near:And if my verse shall any value keep,Preserved and praised 'mid noble minds to makeThy name, its memory shall be deathless here.
Words in this poem
- spoiler n.
- One who spoils; a plunderer; a pillager; a robber; a despoiler.
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- 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,]
- deathless a.
- Not subject to death, destruction, or extinction; immortal; undying; imperishable; as, deathless beings; deathless fame.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Her Own Virtues Immortalise Her in Heaven, and His Praises on Earth 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, Her Own Virtues Immortalise Her in Heaven, and His Praises on Earth, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/her-own-virtues-immortalise-her-in-heaven-and-his-praises-on.html, id L14940.
Form and metre
Her Own Virtues Immortalise Her in Heaven, and His Praises on Earth 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 89%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 14% 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 shadeA · sightB · lightB · laidA · madeA · nightB · inviteB · invadeA · sleepC · wakeD · nearC · keepD · makeC · hereD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The air and scent, the comfort and the shade | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Of my sweet laurel, and its flowery sight, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| That to my weary life gave rest and light, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Death, spoiler of the world, has lowly laid. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| As when the moon our sun's eclipse has made, | 10 | ····/·˘/·· |
| My lofty light has vanish'd so in night; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| For aid against himself I Death invite; | 10 | ····˘/··˘/ |
| With thoughts so dark does Love my breast invade. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Thou didst but sleep, bright lady, a brief sleep, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| In bliss amid the chosen spirits to wake, | 11 | ··˘/·/˘/˘·· |
| Who gaze upon their God, distinct and near: | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| And if my verse shall any value keep, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Preserved and praised 'mid noble minds to make | 10 | ˘/···/˘··· |
| Thy name, its memory shall be deathless here. | 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.