Her Praises Are, Compared with Her Deserts, but as a Drop to the Ocean
So far as to mine eyes its light heaven show'd,So far as love and study train'd my wings,Novel and beautiful but mortal thingsFrom every star I found on her bestow'd:So many forms in rare and varied modeOf heavenly beauty from immortal springsMy panting intellect before me brings,Sunk my weak sight before their dazzling load.Hence, whatsoe'er I spoke of her or wrote,Who, at God's right, returns me now her prayers,Is in that infinite abyss a mote:For style beyond the genius never dares;Thus, though upon the sun man fix his sight,He seeth less as fiercer burns its light.
Words in this poem
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- wrote v. i.
- To root with the snout. See 1st Root. [OE. wroten. See 1st Root.]
- mote n.
- A meeting of persons for discussion; as, a wardmote in the city of London. [See Moot, a meeting.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Her Praises Are, Compared with Her Deserts, but as a Drop to the Ocean 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 Praises Are, Compared with Her Deserts, but as a Drop to the Ocean, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/her-praises-are-compared-with-her-deserts-but-as-a-drop-to-t.html, id L14962.
Form and metre
Her Praises Are, Compared with Her Deserts, but as a Drop to the Ocean 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 87%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 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 show'dA · wingsB · thingsB · bestow'dA · modeA · springsB · bringsB · loadA · wroteC · prayersD · moteC · daresD · sightC · lightD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| So far as to mine eyes its light heaven show'd, | 10 | ········/· |
| So far as love and study train'd my wings, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Novel and beautiful but mortal things | 10 | /˘·/˘˘·/˘· |
| From every star I found on her bestow'd: | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| So many forms in rare and varied mode | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Of heavenly beauty from immortal springs | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| My panting intellect before me brings, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Sunk my weak sight before their dazzling load. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Hence, whatsoe'er I spoke of her or wrote, | 10 | ·········· |
| Who, at God's right, returns me now her prayers, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Is in that infinite abyss a mote: | 10 | ···/˘˘˘/·· |
| For style beyond the genius never dares; | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Thus, though upon the sun man fix his sight, | 10 | ·········· |
| He seeth less as fiercer burns its light. | 9 | ····/˘··· |
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.