On the Sixth Centenary of Dante
I saw him, from the uncovered tomb upliftingHis mighty form, the imperial prophet stand.Then shook the Adrian shore, and all the landItalia trembled as at an earthquake drifting.
Like morning mist from purest ether sifting,It marched along the Apenninian strand,Glancing adown the vales on either hand,Then vanished like the dawn to daylight shifting.
Meanwhile in earthly hearts a fear did rise,The awful presence of a god discerning,To which no mortal dared to lift the eyes.But where, beyond the gates, the sun is burning,The races dead of warlike men and wiseWith joy saluted the great soul's returning.
Words in this poem
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
- adrian a.
- Pertaining to the Adriatic Sea; as, Adrian billows. [L. Hadrianus.]
- glancing a.
- Shooting, as light.
- adown adv.
- From a higher to a lower situation; downward; down, to or on the ground. [OE. adun, adoun, adune. AS. of dune off the hill. See Down.]
- daylight n.
- The light of day as opposed to the darkness of night; the light of the sun, as opposed to that of the moon or to artificial light.
- meanwhile n.
- The intervening time; as, in the meantime (or mean time).
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On the Sixth Centenary of Dante is in the public domain. This text is taken from By Frank Sewall (London: Osgood, McIlvaine & Co., 1893), Project Gutenberg ebook #56711, the Frank Sewall 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: Giosuè Carducci, On the Sixth Centenary of Dante, in Poems of Giosuè Carducci (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56711, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/carducci-poems/on-the-sixth-centenary-of-dante.html, id L26543.
Form and metre
On the Sixth Centenary of Dante is 14 lines in 3 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABBA, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic hexameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
See other poems in iambic 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 ABBA upliftingA · standB · landB · driftingA
- 2 ABBA siftingA · strandB · handB · shiftingA
- 3 ABABAB riseA · discerningB · eyesA · burningB · wiseA · returningB
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 hexameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I saw him, from the uncovered tomb uplifting | 12 | ·····˘/˘·/·˘ |
| His mighty form, the imperial prophet stand. | 11 | ·/˘··˘/˘/˘· |
| Then shook the Adrian shore, and all the land | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Italia trembled as at an earthquake drifting. | 12 | ˘/˘/˘···/·/˘ |
| Like morning mist from purest ether sifting, | 11 | ·/˘··/˘/˘/˘ |
| It marched along the Apenninian strand, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Glancing adown the vales on either hand, | 10 | /˘˘/···/˘· |
| Then vanished like the dawn to daylight shifting. | 11 | ·/˘····/·/˘ |
| Meanwhile in earthly hearts a fear did rise, | 10 | /··/˘····· |
| The awful presence of a god discerning, | 11 | ·/˘/˘···˘/˘ |
| To which no mortal dared to lift the eyes. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| But where, beyond the gates, the sun is burning, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| The races dead of warlike men and wise | 10 | ·/˘··/···· |
| With joy saluted the great soul's returning. | 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.