The Union of Beauty and Virtue Is Dissolved by Her Death
Two mortal foes in one fair breast combined,Beauty and Virtue, in such peace alliedThat ne'er rebellion ruffled that pure mind,But in rare union dwelt they side by side;By Death they now are shatter'd and disjoin'd;One is in heaven, its glory and its pride,One under earth, her brilliant eyes now blind,Whence stings of love once issued far and wide.That winning air, that rare discourse and meek,Surely from heaven inspired, that gentle glanceWhich wounded my poor heart, and wins it still,Are gone; if I am slow her road to seek,I hope her fair and graceful name perchanceTo consecrate with this worn weary quill.
About this text
The Union of Beauty and Virtue Is Dissolved by Her Death 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 Union of Beauty and Virtue Is Dissolved by Her Death, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/the-union-of-beauty-and-virtue-is-dissolved-by-her-death.html, id L14887.
Form and metre
The Union of Beauty and Virtue Is Dissolved by Her Death 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%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 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 combinedA · alliedB · mindB · sideA · disjoin'dA · prideB · blindB · wideA · meekC · glanceD · stillC · seekD · perchanceC · quillD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Two mortal foes in one fair breast combined, | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Beauty and Virtue, in such peace allied | 10 | /˘·/˘···˘/ |
| That ne'er rebellion ruffled that pure mind, | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| But in rare union dwelt they side by side; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| By Death they now are shatter'd and disjoin'd; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| One is in heaven, its glory and its pride, | 10 | ···/·/˘··· |
| One under earth, her brilliant eyes now blind, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Whence stings of love once issued far and wide. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| That winning air, that rare discourse and meek, | 10 | ·/˘···/˘·· |
| Surely from heaven inspired, that gentle glance | 10 | /˘·/˘/·/˘· |
| Which wounded my poor heart, and wins it still, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Are gone; if I am slow her road to seek, | 10 | ·········· |
| I hope her fair and graceful name perchance | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| To consecrate with this worn weary quill. | 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.