That lady of all gentle memories
That lady of all gentle memoriesHad lighted on my soul;—whose new abodeLies now, as it was well ordained of God,Among the poor in heart, where Mary is.Love, knowing that dear image to be his,Woke up within the sick heart sorrow-bow’d,Unto the sighs which are its weary loadSaying, “Go forth.” And they went forth, I wis;Forth went they from my breast that throbbed and ached;With such a pang as oftentimes will batheMine eyes with tears when I am left alone.And still those sighs which drew the heaviest breathCame whispering thus: “O noble intellect!It is a year to-day that thou art gone.”
That lady of all gentle memoriesHad lighted on my soul;—for whose sake flow’dThe tears of Love; in whom the power abodeWhich led you to observe while I did this.Love, knowing that dear image to be his, etc.
Words in this poem
- abode n.
- Act of waiting; delay. [OE. abad, abood, fr. abiden to abide. See Abide. For the change of vowel, cf. abode, imp. of abide.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- oftentimes adv.
- Frequently; often; many times. [Often + time. Cf. -wards.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
That lady of all gentle memories 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, That lady of all gentle memories, in The New Life (1861), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #41085, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dante-vita-nuova/that-lady-of-all-gentle-memories.html, id L14443.
Form and metre
That lady of all gentle memories is 19 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%).
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-AABB------- memoriesA · abodeB · god · isA · hisA · bow'dB · loadB · wis · ached · bathe · alone · breath · intellect · gone
- 2 -AA-- memories · flow'dA · abodeA · this · etc
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 |
|---|---|---|
| That lady of all gentle memories | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘˘ |
| Had lighted on my soul;—whose new abode | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Lies now, as it was well ordained of God, | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Among the poor in heart, where Mary is. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Love, knowing that dear image to be his, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Woke up within the sick heart sorrow-bow’d, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Unto the sighs which are its weary load | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Saying, “Go forth.” And they went forth, I wis; | 10 | /˘········ |
| Forth went they from my breast that throbbed and ached; | 10 | ·········· |
| With such a pang as oftentimes will bathe | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Mine eyes with tears when I am left alone. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| And still those sighs which drew the heaviest breath | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Came whispering thus: “O noble intellect! | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| It is a year to-day that thou art gone.” | 10 | ·········· |
| That lady of all gentle memories | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘˘ |
| Had lighted on my soul;—for whose sake flow’d | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| The tears of Love; in whom the power abode | 10 | ·······/˘/ |
| Which led you to observe while I did this. | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Love, knowing that dear image to be his, etc. | 12 | ·/··/˘····/˘ |
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.