All ye that pass along Love’s trodden way
All ye that pass along Love’s trodden way,Pause ye awhile and sayIf there be any grief like unto mine:I pray you that you hearken a short spacePatiently, if my caseBe not a piteous marvel and a sign.
Love (never, certes, for my worthless part,But of his own great heart,)Vouchsafed to me a life so calm and sweetThat oft I heard folk question as I wentWhat such great gladness meant:—They spoke of it behind me in the street.
But now that fearless bearing is all goneWhich with Love’s hoarded wealth was given me;Till I am grown to beSo poor that I have dread to think thereon.And thus it is that I, being like as oneWho is ashamed and hides his poverty,Without seem full of glee,And let my heart within travail and moan.
Words in this poem
- awhile adv.
- For a while; for some time; for a short time. [Adj. a + while time, interval.]
- patiently adv.
- In a patient manner.
- certes adv.
- Certainly; in truth; verily. [F. certes, for à certes, fr. L. certus. See Certain.]
- folk n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- thereon adv.
- On that or this. [AS. . See There, and On.]
- glee n.
- Music; minstrelsy; entertainment.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
All ye that pass along Love’s trodden way 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, All ye that pass along Love’s trodden way, in The New Life (1861), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #41085, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dante-vita-nuova/all-ye-that-pass-along-love-s-trodden-way.html, id L27037.
Form and metre
All ye that pass along Love’s trodden way is 20 lines in 3 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is AABCCB, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
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 AABCCB wayA · sayA · mineB · spaceC · caseC · signB
- 2 AABCCB partA · heartA · sweetB · wentC · meantC · streetB
- 3 ABBA--B- goneA · meB · beB · thereonA · one · poverty · gleeB · moan
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 |
|---|---|---|
| All ye that pass along Love’s trodden way, | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| Pause ye awhile and say | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| If there be any grief like unto mine: | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| I pray you that you hearken a short space | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Patiently, if my case | 6 | /˘˘··· |
| Be not a piteous marvel and a sign. | 11 | ···/˘˘/˘··· |
| Love (never, certes, for my worthless part, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| But of his own great heart,) | 6 | ······ |
| Vouchsafed to me a life so calm and sweet | 10 | ·········· |
| That oft I heard folk question as I went | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| What such great gladness meant:— | 6 | ···/˘· |
| They spoke of it behind me in the street. | 10 | ·········· |
| But now that fearless bearing is all gone | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Which with Love’s hoarded wealth was given me; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Till I am grown to be | 6 | ······ |
| So poor that I have dread to think thereon. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| And thus it is that I, being like as one | 10 | ······/··· |
| Who is ashamed and hides his poverty, | 10 | ··˘/···/˘˘ |
| Without seem full of glee, | 6 | ······ |
| And let my heart within travail and moan. | 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.