The very bitter weeping that ye made
“The very bitter weeping that ye madeSo long a time together, eyes of mine,Was wont to make the tears of pity shineIn other eyes full oft, as I have said.But now this thing were scarce rememberèdIf I, on my part, foully would combineWith you, and not recall each ancient signOf grief, and her for whom your tears were shedIt is your fickleness that doth betrayMy mind to fears, and makes me tremble thusWhat while a lady greets me with her eyes.Except by death, we must not any wayForget our lady who is gone from us.”So far doth my heart utter, and then sighs.
Words in this poem
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- foully v.
- In a foul manner; filthily; nastily; shamefully; unfairly; dishonorably.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The very bitter weeping that ye made 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, The very bitter weeping that ye made, in The New Life (1861), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #41085, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dante-vita-nuova/the-very-bitter-weeping-that-ye-made.html, id L27057.
Form and metre
The very bitter weeping that ye made 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 -AAB-AABCDECDE made · mineA · shineA · saidB · rememberèd · combineA · signA · shedB · betrayC · thusD · eyesE · wayC · usD · sighsE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| “The very bitter weeping that ye made | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| So long a time together, eyes of mine, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Was wont to make the tears of pity shine | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| In other eyes full oft, as I have said. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| But now this thing were scarce rememberèd | 9 | ········· |
| If I, on my part, foully would combine | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| With you, and not recall each ancient sign | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| Of grief, and her for whom your tears were shed | 10 | ·········· |
| It is your fickleness that doth betray | 10 | ···/˘˘··˘/ |
| My mind to fears, and makes me tremble thus | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| What while a lady greets me with her eyes. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Except by death, we must not any way | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Forget our lady who is gone from us.” | 10 | ˘///˘····· |
| So far doth my heart utter, and then sighs. | 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.