The Beauty of Laura Is Peerless
In one fair star I saw two brilliant eyes,With sweetness, modesty, so glistening o'er,That soon those graceful nests of Love beforeMy worn heart learnt all others to despise:Equall'd not her whoever won the prizeIn ages gone on any foreign shore;Not she to Greece whose wondrous beauty boreUnnumber'd ills, to Troy death's anguish'd cries:Not the fair Roman, who, with ruthless bladePiercing her chaste and outraged bosom, fledDishonour worse than death, like charms display'd;Such excellence should brightest glory shedOn Nature, as on me supreme delight,But, ah! too lately come, too soon it takes its flight.
Words in this poem
- despise v. t.
- To look down upon with disfavor or contempt; to contemn; to scorn; to disdain; to have a low opinion or contemptuous dislike of. [OF. despis-, in some forms of despire to despise, fr. L. despicere, despectum, to look down upon, despise; de- + spicere, specere, to look. See Spy, and cf. Des]
- whoever pron.
- Whatever person; any person who; be or she who; any one who; as, he shall be punished, whoever he may be.
- wondrous adv.
- In a wonderful or surprising manner or degree; wonderfully. [OE. wonders, adv. (later also adj.). See Wonder, n., and cf. -wards.]
- ruthless a.
- Having no ruth; cruel; pitiless.
- dishonour n.
- Lack of honor; disgrace; ignominy; shame; reproach. [OE. deshonour, dishonour, OF. deshonor, deshonur, F. déshonneur; pref. des- (L. dis-) + honor, honur, F. honneur, fr. L. honor. See Honor.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Beauty of Laura Is Peerless 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, The Beauty of Laura Is Peerless, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/the-beauty-of-laura-is-peerless.html, id L14830.
Form and metre
The Beauty of Laura Is Peerless 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 90%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 43% 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 eyesA · o'erB · beforeB · despiseA · prizeA · shoreB · boreB · criesA · bladeC · fledD · display'dC · shedD · delightC · flightD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| In one fair star I saw two brilliant eyes, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| With sweetness, modesty, so glistening o'er, | 10 | ·/˘/˘·/˘˘· |
| That soon those graceful nests of Love before | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| My worn heart learnt all others to despise: | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Equall'd not her whoever won the prize | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| In ages gone on any foreign shore; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Not she to Greece whose wondrous beauty bore | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Unnumber'd ills, to Troy death's anguish'd cries: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Not the fair Roman, who, with ruthless blade | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Piercing her chaste and outraged bosom, fled | 10 | /˘···/·/˘· |
| Dishonour worse than death, like charms display'd; | 10 | ˘/˘·····˘/ |
| Such excellence should brightest glory shed | 10 | ·/˘˘·/˘/˘· |
| On Nature, as on me supreme delight, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘/ |
| But, ah! too lately come, too soon it takes its flight. | 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.