The Praises of Laura Transcend His Poetic Powers
Ashamed sometimes thy beauties should remainAs yet unsung, sweet lady, in my rhyme;When first I saw thee I recall the time,Pleasing as none shall ever please again.But no fit polish can my verse attain,Not mine is strength to try the task sublime:My genius, measuring its power to climb,From such attempt doth prudently refrain.Full oft I oped my lips to chant thy name;Then in mid utterance the lay was lost:But say what muse can dare so bold a flight?Full oft I strove in measure to indite;But ah, the pen, the hand, the vein I boast,At once were vanquish'd by the mighty theme!
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- prudently adv.
- In a prudent manner.
- indite v. t.
- To compose; to write; to be author of; to dictate; to prompt. [OE. enditen to indite, indict, OF. enditer to indicate, show, dictate, write, inform, and endicter to accuse; both fr. LL. indictare to show, to accuse, fr. L. ]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Praises of Laura Transcend His Poetic Powers 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 Praises of Laura Transcend His Poetic Powers, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/the-praises-of-laura-transcend-his-poetic-powers.html, id L14495.
Form and metre
The Praises of Laura Transcend His Poetic Powers 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 91%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 7% 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 remainA · rhymeB · timeB · againA · attainA · sublimeB · climbB · refrainA · nameC · lostD · flightC · inditeD · boastC · themeD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ashamed sometimes thy beauties should remain | 10 | ˘/˘/·/˘·˘/ |
| As yet unsung, sweet lady, in my rhyme; | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| When first I saw thee I recall the time, | 10 | ······/··· |
| Pleasing as none shall ever please again. | 10 | /˘···/˘·˘/ |
| But no fit polish can my verse attain, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Not mine is strength to try the task sublime: | 10 | ········˘/ |
| My genius, measuring its power to climb, | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘·/·· |
| From such attempt doth prudently refrain. | 10 | ··˘/·/˘˘˘/ |
| Full oft I oped my lips to chant thy name; | 10 | ·········· |
| Then in mid utterance the lay was lost: | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| But say what muse can dare so bold a flight? | 10 | ·········· |
| Full oft I strove in measure to indite; | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| But ah, the pen, the hand, the vein I boast, | 10 | ·········· |
| At once were vanquish'd by the mighty theme! | 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.