To every heart which the sweet pain doth move
To every heart which the sweet pain doth move,And unto which these words may now be broughtFor true interpretation and kind thought,Be greeting in our Lord’s name, which is Love.Of those long hours wherein the stars, above,Wake and keep watch, the third was almost nought,When Love was shown me with such terrors fraughtAs may not carelessly be spoken of.He seemed like one who is full of joy, and hadMy heart within his hand, and on his armMy lady, with a mantle round her, slept;Whom (having wakened her) anon he madeTo eat that heart; she ate, as fearing harm.Then he went out; and as he went, he wept.
Words in this poem
- fraught n.
- A freight; a cargo. [OE.fraight, fraght; akin to Dan. fragt, Sw. frakt, D. vracht, G. fracht, cf. OHG. fr merit, reward; perh. from corresponding to E. for + The root of E. own. Cf.]
- anon adv.
- Straightway; at once. [OE. anoon, anon, anan, lit., in one (moment), fr. AS. on in + an one. See On and One.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To every heart which the sweet pain doth move 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, To every heart which the sweet pain doth move, in The New Life (1861), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #41085, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dante-vita-nuova/to-every-heart-which-the-sweet-pain-doth-move.html, id L27036.
Form and metre
To every heart which the sweet pain doth move 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 ABBAABBA-CD-CD moveA · broughtB · thoughtB · loveA · aboveA · noughtB · fraughtB · ofA · had · armC · sleptD · made · harmC · weptD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| To every heart which the sweet pain doth move, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And unto which these words may now be brought | 10 | ·········· |
| For true interpretation and kind thought, | 10 | ··˘·˘/˘··· |
| Be greeting in our Lord’s name, which is Love. | 10 | ·/˘·/····· |
| Of those long hours wherein the stars, above, | 10 | ···/······ |
| Wake and keep watch, the third was almost nought, | 10 | ·······/·· |
| When Love was shown me with such terrors fraught | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| As may not carelessly be spoken of. | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘· |
| He seemed like one who is full of joy, and had | 11 | ··········· |
| My heart within his hand, and on his arm | 10 | ·········· |
| My lady, with a mantle round her, slept; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Whom (having wakened her) anon he made | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/·· |
| To eat that heart; she ate, as fearing harm. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Then he went out; and as he went, he wept. | 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.