Beyond the sphere which spreads to widest space
Beyond the sphere which spreads to widest spaceNow soars the sigh that my heart sends above:A new perception born of grieving LoveGuideth it upward the untrodden ways.When it hath reached unto the end, and stays,It sees a lady round whom splendours moveIn homage; till, by the great light thereofAbashed, the pilgrim spirit stands at gaze.It sees her such, that when it tells me thisWhich it hath seen, I understand it not,It hath a speech so subtile and so fine.And yet I know its voice within my thoughtOften remembereth me of Beatrice:So that I understand it, ladies mine.
About this text
Beyond the sphere which spreads to widest space 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, Beyond the sphere which spreads to widest space, in The New Life (1861), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #41085, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dante-vita-nuova/beyond-the-sphere-which-spreads-to-widest-space.html, id L27061.
Form and metre
Beyond the sphere which spreads to widest space 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 -AABBAABC-D-CD space · aboveA · loveA · waysB · staysB · moveA · thereofA · gazeB · thisC · not · fineD · thought · beatriceC · mineD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Beyond the sphere which spreads to widest space | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Now soars the sigh that my heart sends above: | 10 | ·········· |
| A new perception born of grieving Love | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Guideth it upward the untrodden ways. | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| When it hath reached unto the end, and stays, | 10 | ·········· |
| It sees a lady round whom splendours move | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| In homage; till, by the great light thereof | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Abashed, the pilgrim spirit stands at gaze. | 10 | ˘/·/˘/˘··· |
| It sees her such, that when it tells me this | 10 | ·········· |
| Which it hath seen, I understand it not, | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| It hath a speech so subtile and so fine. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And yet I know its voice within my thought | 10 | ·········· |
| Often remembereth me of Beatrice: | 11 | /˘˘/˘˘··/˘˘ |
| So that I understand it, ladies mine. | 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.