The Love of God.—(From the Provencal of Bernard Rascas.)
Touta kausa mortala una fes perira,Fors que l'amour de Dieu, que tousiours durara.Tous nostres cors vendran essuchs, coma fa l'eska,Lous Aubres leyssaran lour verdour tendra e fresca,Lous Auselets del bosc perdran lour kant subtyeu,E non s'auzira plus lou Rossignol gentyeu.Lous Buols al Pastourgage, e las blankas fedettasSent'ran lous agulhons de las mortals Sagettas,Lous crestas d'Arles fiers, Renards, e Loups espars,Kabrols, Cervys, Chamous, Senglars de toutes pars,Lous Ours hardys e forts, seran poudra, e Arena,Lou Daulphin en la Mar, lou Ton, e la Balena:Monstres impetuous, Ryaumes, e Comtas,Lous Princes, e lous Reys, seran per mort domtas.E nota ben eysso kascun: la Terra granda,(Ou l'Escritura ment) lou fermament que branda,Prendra autra figura. Enfin tout perira,Fors que l'Amour de Dieu, que touiours durara.
Words in this poem
- lour n.
- An Asiatic sardine (Clupea Neohowii), valued for its oil. [Native name.]
- loups n.
- The Pawnees, a tribe of North American Indians whose principal totem was the wolf. [F., prop., a wolf.]
- mort n.
- A great quantity or number. [Cf. Icel. margt, neut. of margr many.]
- tout v. t.
- To act as a tout. See 2d Tout. [Cant. Eng.] [See 1st Toot.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Love of God.—(From the Provencal of Bernard Rascas.) is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems by William Cullen Bryant, Project Gutenberg ebook #16341; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Cullen Bryant, The Love of God.—(From the Provencal of Bernard Rascas.), in Poems (1821–1876), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16341, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bryant-poems/the-love-of-god-from-the-provencal-of-bernard-rascas.html, id L07375.
Form and metre
The Love of God.—(From the Provencal of Bernard Rascas.) is 18 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 78% of the lines. The metre is trochaic hexameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 70%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 12.2 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 6% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in trochaic hexameter.
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 ABCCDDEEFFGGHHIIAB periraA · duraraB · l'eskaC · frescaC · subtyeuD · gentyeuD · fedettasE · sagettasE · esparsF · parsF · arenaG · balenaG · comtasH · domtasH · grandaI · brandaI · periraA · duraraB
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 trochaic hexameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Touta kausa mortala una fes perira, | 13 | ·······/˘···· |
| Fors que l'amour de Dieu, que tousiours durara. | 12 | ··/˘········ |
| Tous nostres cors vendran essuchs, coma fa l'eska, | 12 | ·······/˘··· |
| Lous Aubres leyssaran lour verdour tendra e fresca, | 14 | ·/˘··········· |
| Lous Auselets del bosc perdran lour kant subtyeu, | 12 | ············ |
| E non s'auzira plus lou Rossignol gentyeu. | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| Lous Buols al Pastourgage, e las blankas fedettas | 13 | ············· |
| Sent'ran lous agulhons de las mortals Sagettas, | 13 | ········/˘··· |
| Lous crestas d'Arles fiers, Renards, e Loups espars, | 11 | ·····˘/···· |
| Kabrols, Cervys, Chamous, Senglars de toutes pars, | 11 | ··········· |
| Lous Ours hardys e forts, seran poudra, e Arena, | 14 | ·//˘·······˘/˘ |
| Lou Daulphin en la Mar, lou Ton, e la Balena: | 13 | ············· |
| Monstres impetuous, Ryaumes, e Comtas, | 9 | /˘˘/˘···· |
| Lous Princes, e lous Reys, seran per mort domtas. | 12 | ·/˘········· |
| E nota ben eysso kascun: la Terra granda, | 13 | ·········/˘/˘ |
| (Ou l'Escritura ment) lou fermament que branda, | 13 | ···········/˘ |
| Prendra autra figura. Enfin tout perira, | 13 | ····˘/˘······ |
| Fors que l'Amour de Dieu, que touiours durara. | 11 | ··/˘······· |
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.