Gaspara Stampa: Deeply repentant of my sinful ways
Deeply repentant of my sinful waysAnd of my trivial, manifold desires,Of squandering, alas, these few brief daysOf fugitive life in tending love's vain fires,To Thee, Lord, Who dost move hard hearts again,And render warmth unto the frozen snow,And lighten every bitter load of painFor those who with Thy sacred ardours glow.
To Thee I turn, O stretch forth Thy right handAnd from this whirlpool rescue me, for IWithout Thine aid could never reach the land ;O willingly for us didst suffer loss,And to redeem mankind hung on the Cross,O gentle Saviour, leave me not to die.
Words in this poem
- repentant a.
- Penitent; sorry for sin. [F. repentant.]
- trivial a.
- Found anywhere; common. [L. trivialis, properly, that is in, or belongs to, the crossroads or public streets; hence, that may be found everywhere, common, fr. trivium a place where thre]
- willingly adv.
- In a willing manner; with free will; without reluctance; cheerfully.
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- saviour n.
- One who saves, preserves, or delivers from destruction or danger. [OE. saveour, OF. salveor, F. sauveur, fr. L. salvator to save. See Save, v.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Gaspara Stampa: Deeply repentant of my sinful ways is in the public domain. This text is taken from An Anthology of Italian Poems, 13th to 19th Century, Selected & Translated by Lorna de' Lucchi, Internet Archive, the Lorna de' Lucchi 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: Various, Gaspara Stampa: Deeply repentant of my sinful ways, in An Anthology of Italian Poems (Selections), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/italian-anthology-de-lucchi/gaspara-stampa-deeply-repentant-of-my-sinful-ways.html, id L26495.
Form and metre
Gaspara Stampa: Deeply repentant of my sinful ways is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. 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 ABABCDCD waysA · desiresB · daysA · firesB · againC · snowD · painC · glowD
- 2 ABACCB handA · iB · landA · lossC · crossC · dieB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Deeply repentant of my sinful ways | 10 | /˘˘/˘··/˘· |
| And of my trivial, manifold desires, | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Of squandering, alas, these few brief days | 10 | ·/˘˘˘/···· |
| Of fugitive life in tending love's vain fires, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··/ |
| To Thee, Lord, Who dost move hard hearts again, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| And render warmth unto the frozen snow, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And lighten every bitter load of pain | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| For those who with Thy sacred ardours glow. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| To Thee I turn, O stretch forth Thy right hand | 10 | ·········· |
| And from this whirlpool rescue me, for I | 10 | ···/·/˘··· |
| Without Thine aid could never reach the land ; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| O willingly for us didst suffer loss, | 10 | ·/˘˘···/˘· |
| And to redeem mankind hung on the Cross, | 10 | ··˘///···· |
| O gentle Saviour, leave me not to die. | 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.