Nature Displayed in Her Every Charm, but Soon Withdrew Her from Sight
This gift of beauty which a good men name,Frail, fleeting, fancied, false, a wind, a shade,Ne'er yet with all its spells one fair array'd,Save in this age when for my cost it came.Not such is Nature's duty, nor her aim,One to enrich if others poor are made,But now on one is all her wealth display'd,--Ladies, your pardon let my boldness claim.Like loveliness ne'er lived, or old or new,Nor ever shall, I ween, but hid so strange,Scarce did our erring world its marvel view,So soon it fled; thus too my soul must changeThe little light vouchsafed me from the skiesOnly for pleasure of her sainted eyes.
Words in this poem
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- loveliness n.
- The state or quality of being lovely. [From Lovely.]
- 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,]
- ween v. i.
- To think; to imagine; to fancy. [OE. wenen, AS. w, fr. w hope, expectation, opinion; akin to D. waan, OFries. w, OS. & OHG. wan, G. wahn delusion, Icel. van hope, expectation, Goth. w, and D. w]
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- sainted a.
- Consecrated; sacred; holy; pious.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Nature Displayed in Her Every Charm, but Soon Withdrew Her from Sight 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, Nature Displayed in Her Every Charm, but Soon Withdrew Her from Sight, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/nature-displayed-in-her-every-charm-but-soon-withdrew-her-fr.html, id L14956.
Form and metre
Nature Displayed in Her Every Charm, but Soon Withdrew Her from Sight 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 92%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 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 nameA · shadeB · array'dB · cameA · aimA · madeB · display'dB · claimA · newC · strangeD · viewC · changeD · skiesC · eyesD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| This gift of beauty which a good men name, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Frail, fleeting, fancied, false, a wind, a shade, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Ne'er yet with all its spells one fair array'd, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Save in this age when for my cost it came. | 10 | ·········· |
| Not such is Nature's duty, nor her aim, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| One to enrich if others poor are made, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| But now on one is all her wealth display'd, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| --Ladies, your pardon let my boldness claim. | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| Like loveliness ne'er lived, or old or new, | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| Nor ever shall, I ween, but hid so strange, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Scarce did our erring world its marvel view, | 10 | ··//˘··/˘· |
| So soon it fled; thus too my soul must change | 10 | ·········· |
| The little light vouchsafed me from the skies | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Only for pleasure of her sainted eyes. | 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.