Genius in Beauty
Beauty like hers is genius. Not the callOf Homer's or of Dante's heart sublime,--Not Michael's hand furrowing the zones of time,--Is more with compassed mysteries musical;Nay, not in Spring's or Summer's sweet footfallMore gathered gifts exuberant Life bequeathesThan doth this sovereign face, whose love-spell breathesEven from its shadowed contour on the wall.
As many men are poets in their youth,But for one sweet-strung soul the wires prolongEven through all change the indomitable song;So in likewise the envenomed years, whose toothRends shallower grace with ruin void of ruth,Upon this beauty's power shall wreak no wrong.
Words in this poem
- compassed a.
- Rounded; arched.
- footfall n.
- A setting down of the foot; a footstep; the sound of a footstep.
- ruth n.
- Sorrow for the misery of another; pity; tenderness. [From Rue, v.: cf. Icel. hryggedh, hrygedh.]
- 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,]
- wreak v. i.
- To reck; to care.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Genius in Beauty is in the public domain. This text is taken from The House of Life, Project Gutenberg ebook #3692; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Genius in Beauty, in The House of Life (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3692, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rossetti-house-of-life/genius-in-beauty.html, id L20938.
Form and metre
Genius in Beauty is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 79%).
See 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 ABBAA--A callA · sublimeB · timeB · musicalA · footfallA · bequeathes · breathes · wallA
- 2 ABBAAB youthA · prolongB · songB · toothA · ruthA · wrongB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Beauty like hers is genius. Not the call | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Of Homer's or of Dante's heart sublime,-- | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Not Michael's hand furrowing the zones of time,-- | 10 | ·/˘·/˘···· |
| Is more with compassed mysteries musical; | 11 | ···/˘/˘˘/˘˘ |
| Nay, not in Spring's or Summer's sweet footfall | 10 | ·····/˘·/· |
| More gathered gifts exuberant Life bequeathes | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘·˘/ |
| Than doth this sovereign face, whose love-spell breathes | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Even from its shadowed contour on the wall. | 10 | /··/˘/···· |
| As many men are poets in their youth, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| But for one sweet-strung soul the wires prolong | 10 | ·······/˘/ |
| Even through all change the indomitable song; | 10 | /····˘/˘˘· |
| So in likewise the envenomed years, whose tooth | 11 | ··/········ |
| Rends shallower grace with ruin void of ruth, | 10 | ·/˘˘··/··· |
| Upon this beauty's power shall wreak no wrong. | 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.