La Figlia Che Piange
Stand on the highest pavement of the stair--Lean on a garden urn--Weave, weave the sunlight in your hair--Clasp your flowers to you with a pained surprise--Fling them to the ground and turnWith a fugitive resentment in your eyes:But weave, weave the sunlight in your hair.
So I would have had him leave,So I would have had her stand and grieve,So he would have leftAs the soul leaves the body torn and bruisedAs the mind deserts the body it has used.I should findSome way incomparably light and deft,Some way we both should understand,Simple and faithless as a smile and shake of the hand.
She turned away, but with the autumn weatherCompelled my imagination many days,Many days and many hours:Her hair over her arms and her arms full of flowers.And I wonder how they should have been together!I should have lost a gesture and a pose.Sometimes these cogitations still amazeThe troubled midnight and the noon’s repose.
Words in this poem
- deft a.
- Apt; fit; dexterous; clever; handy; spruce; neat. [OE. daft, deft, becoming, mild, gentle, stupid (cf. OE. daffe, deffe, fool, coward), AS. dæft (in derivatives only) mild, gentle, fitting, seasonable; akin to d]
- amaze v. t.
- To bewilder; to stupefy; to bring into a maze. [Pref. a- + maze.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
La Figlia Che Piange is in the public domain. This text is taken from Prufrock and Other Observations, Project Gutenberg ebook #1459; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: T. S. Eliot, La Figlia Che Piange, in Prufrock and Other Observations (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1459, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/eliot-prufrock/la-figlia-che-piange.html, id L04662.
Form and metre
La Figlia Che Piange is 24 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.1 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABACBCA stairA · urnB · hairA · surpriseC · turnB · eyesC · hairA
- 2 AABCC-BDD leaveA · grieveA · leftB · bruisedC · usedC · find · deftB · understandD · handD
- 3 ABCCADBD weatherA · daysB · hoursC · flowersC · togetherA · poseD · amazeB · reposeD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Stand on the highest pavement of the stair-- | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Lean on a garden urn-- | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Weave, weave the sunlight in your hair-- | 8 | ···/···· |
| Clasp your flowers to you with a pained surprise-- | 10 | ··/·····˘/ |
| Fling them to the ground and turn | 7 | ······· |
| With a fugitive resentment in your eyes: | 10 | ··/˘˘/˘··· |
| But weave, weave the sunlight in your hair. | 9 | ····/···· |
| So I would have had him leave, | 7 | ······· |
| So I would have had her stand and grieve, | 9 | ········· |
| So he would have left | 5 | ····· |
| As the soul leaves the body torn and bruised | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| As the mind deserts the body it has used. | 11 | ···˘/·/˘··· |
| I should find | 3 | ··· |
| Some way incomparably light and deft, | 10 | ··˘/˘˘˘··· |
| Some way we both should understand, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Simple and faithless as a smile and shake of the hand. | 13 | /˘·/˘········ |
| She turned away, but with the autumn weather | 11 | ··˘/···/˘/˘ |
| Compelled my imagination many days, | 10 | ˘/·˘·˘/˘/· |
| Many days and many hours: | 8 | /˘··/˘/˘ |
| Her hair over her arms and her arms full of flowers. | 11 | ··········/ |
| And I wonder how they should have been together! | 12 | ··/˘·····˘/˘ |
| I should have lost a gesture and a pose. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Sometimes these cogitations still amaze | 10 | ˘/··˘/˘·˘/ |
| The troubled midnight and the noon’s repose. | 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.