At whiles (yea oftentimes) I muse over
At whiles (yea oftentimes) I muse overThe quality of anguish that is mineThrough Love: then pity makes my voice to pine,Saying, “Is any else thus, anywhere?”Love smiteth me, whose strength is ill to bear;So that of all my life is left no signExcept one thought; and that, because ’tis thine,Leaves not the body but abideth there.And then if I, whom other aid forsook,Would aid myself, and innocent of artWould fain have sight of thee as a last hope,No sooner do I lift mine eyes to lookThan the blood seems as shaken from my heart,And all my pulses beat at once and stop.
Words in this poem
- whiles conj.
- During the time that; while. Chaucer. Fuller.
- oftentimes adv.
- Frequently; often; many times. [Often + time. Cf. -wards.]
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
At whiles (yea oftentimes) I muse over 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, At whiles (yea oftentimes) I muse over, in The New Life (1861), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #41085, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dante-vita-nuova/at-whiles-yea-oftentimes-i-muse-over.html, id L27043.
Form and metre
At whiles (yea oftentimes) I muse over is 14 lines in a single stanza. 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 -AABBAABCD-CD- over · mineA · pineA · anywhereB · bearB · signA · thineA · thereB · forsookC · artD · hope · lookC · heartD · stop
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 |
|---|---|---|
| At whiles (yea oftentimes) I muse over | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The quality of anguish that is mine | 10 | ·/˘˘·/˘··· |
| Through Love: then pity makes my voice to pine, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Saying, “Is any else thus, anywhere?” | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| Love smiteth me, whose strength is ill to bear; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| So that of all my life is left no sign | 10 | ·········· |
| Except one thought; and that, because ’tis thine, | 10 | ·········· |
| Leaves not the body but abideth there. | 10 | ···/˘·/˘˘· |
| And then if I, whom other aid forsook, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Would aid myself, and innocent of art | 10 | ···/·/˘˘·· |
| Would fain have sight of thee as a last hope, | 10 | ·········· |
| No sooner do I lift mine eyes to look | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Than the blood seems as shaken from my heart, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And all my pulses beat at once and stop. | 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.