My lady looks so gentle and so pure
My lady looks so gentle and so pureWhen yielding salutation by the way,That the tongue trembles and has nought to say,And the eyes, which fain would see, may not endure.And still, amid the praise she hears secure,She walks with humbleness for her array;Seeming a creature sent from Heaven to stayOn earth, and show a miracle made sure.She is so pleasant in the eyes of menThat through the sight the inmost heart doth gainA sweetness which needs proof to know it by:And from between her lips there seems to moveA soothing essence that is full of love,Saying for ever to the spirit, “Sigh!”
Words in this poem
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- humbleness n.
- The quality of being humble; humility; meekness.
- inmost a.
- Deepest within; farthest from the surface or external part; innermost. [OE. innemest, AS. innemest, a double superlative form fr. inne within, fr. in in. The modern form is due to confusion with most. See In, and cf. Aftermost, Fore]
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
My lady looks so gentle and so pure 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, My lady looks so gentle and so pure, in The New Life (1861), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #41085, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dante-vita-nuova/my-lady-looks-so-gentle-and-so-pure.html, id L27049.
Form and metre
My lady looks so gentle and so pure is 14 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 57% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 ABBAABBA--CDDC pureA · wayB · sayB · endureA · secureA · arrayB · stayB · sureA · men · gain · byC · moveD · loveD · sighC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| My lady looks so gentle and so pure | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| When yielding salutation by the way, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| That the tongue trembles and has nought to say, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And the eyes, which fain would see, may not endure. | 11 | ·········˘/ |
| And still, amid the praise she hears secure, | 10 | ··˘/····˘/ |
| She walks with humbleness for her array; | 10 | ···/˘˘··˘/ |
| Seeming a creature sent from Heaven to stay | 10 | /˘·/˘··/·· |
| On earth, and show a miracle made sure. | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| She is so pleasant in the eyes of men | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| That through the sight the inmost heart doth gain | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| A sweetness which needs proof to know it by: | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And from between her lips there seems to move | 10 | ·········· |
| A soothing essence that is full of love, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Saying for ever to the spirit, “Sigh!” | 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.