A gentle thought there is will often start
A gentle thought there is will often start,Within my secret self, to speech of thee:Also of Love it speaks so tenderlyThat much in me consents and takes its part.“And what is this,” the soul saith to the heart,“That cometh thus to comfort thee and me,And thence where it would dwell, thus potentlyCan drive all other thoughts by its strange art?”And the heart answers: “Be no more at strife’Twixt doubt and doubt: this is Love’s messengerAnd speaketh but his words, from him received;And all the strength it owns and all the lifeIt draweth from the gentle eyes of herWho, looking on our grief, hath often grieved.”
Words in this poem
- tenderly adv.
- In a tender manner; with tenderness; mildly; gently; softly; in a manner not to injure or give pain; with pity or affection; kindly.
- saith
- 3d pers. sing. pres. of Say.
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
- potently adv.
- With great force or energy; powerfully; efficaciously.
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A gentle thought there is will often start is in the public domain. This text is taken from The New Life, Project Gutenberg ebook #41085, the Dante Gabriel Rossetti 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: Dante Alighieri, A gentle thought there is will often start, in The New Life (1861), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #41085, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dante-vita-nuova/a-gentle-thought-there-is-will-often-start.html, id L27058.
Form and metre
A gentle thought there is will often start is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
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 AB-AAB-AC-DC-D startA · theeB · tenderly · partA · heartA · meB · potently · artA · strifeC · messenger · receivedD · lifeC · her · grievedD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A gentle thought there is will often start, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Within my secret self, to speech of thee: | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Also of Love it speaks so tenderly | 10 | /˘·····/˘˘ |
| That much in me consents and takes its part. | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| “And what is this,” the soul saith to the heart, | 10 | ·········· |
| “That cometh thus to comfort thee and me, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| And thence where it would dwell, thus potently | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Can drive all other thoughts by its strange art?” | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And the heart answers: “Be no more at strife | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| ’Twixt doubt and doubt: this is Love’s messenger | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| And speaketh but his words, from him received; | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| And all the strength it owns and all the life | 10 | ·········· |
| It draweth from the gentle eyes of her | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Who, looking on our grief, hath often grieved.” | 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.