Analysis of Of Beauty and Duty

Dante Alighieri 1265 (Florence) – 1321 (Ravenna)



TWO ladies to the summit of my mind
Have clomb, to hold an argument of love.
The one has wisdom with her from above,
For every noblest virtue well designed:
The other, beauty's tempting power refined
And the high charm of perfect grace approve:
And I, as my sweet Master's will doth move,
At feet of both their favors am reclined.
Beauty and Duty in my soul keep strife,
At question if the heart such course can take
And 'twixt the two ladies hold its love complete.
The fount of gentle speech yields answer meet,
That Beauty may be loved for gladness sake,
And Duty in the lofty ends of life


Scheme ABBAACCADEFFED
Poetic Form
Metre 1101010111 1111110011 0111010101 11001010101 0101101001 0011101101 0111110111 1111110101 1001001111 1101011111 01011011101 0111011101 110111111 0100010111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 587
Words 113
Sentences 4
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 466
Words per stanza (avg) 111
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 04, 2023

34 sec read
52

Dante Alighieri

Durante degli Alighieri, simply referred to as Dante, was a major Italian poet of the Middle Ages. more…

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