Ye pilgrim-folk, advancing pensively
Ye pilgrim-folk, advancing pensivelyAs if in thought of distant things, I pray,Is your own land indeed so far away—As by your aspect it would seem to be—That this our heavy sorrow leaves you freeThough passing through the mournful town midway;Like unto men that understand to-dayNothing at all of her great misery?Yet if ye will but stay, whom I accost,And listen to my words a little space,At going ye shall mourn with a loud voice.It is her Beatrice that she hath lost;Of whom the least word spoken holds such graceThat men weep hearing it, and have no choice.
Words in this poem
- folk n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- pensively adv.
- In a pensive manner.
- midway n.
- The middle of the way or distance; a middle way or course.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ye pilgrim-folk, advancing pensively 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, Ye pilgrim-folk, advancing pensively, in The New Life (1861), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #41085, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dante-vita-nuova/ye-pilgrim-folk-advancing-pensively.html, id L27060.
Form and metre
Ye pilgrim-folk, advancing pensively is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
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 -AABBAA-CDECDE pensively · prayA · awayA · beB · freeB · midwayA · dayA · misery · accostC · spaceD · voiceE · lostC · graceD · choiceE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ye pilgrim-folk, advancing pensively | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘/˘˘ |
| As if in thought of distant things, I pray, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Is your own land indeed so far away— | 10 | ····˘/··˘/ |
| As by your aspect it would seem to be— | 10 | ···/······ |
| That this our heavy sorrow leaves you free | 10 | ··//˘/˘··· |
| Though passing through the mournful town midway; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·/· |
| Like unto men that understand to-day | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Nothing at all of her great misery? | 10 | /˘·····/˘˘ |
| Yet if ye will but stay, whom I accost, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| And listen to my words a little space, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| At going ye shall mourn with a loud voice. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| It is her Beatrice that she hath lost; | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| Of whom the least word spoken holds such grace | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| That men weep hearing it, and have no choice. | 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.