How the Soul Finds God in All Creatures by Means of the Senses
O Love Divine and Great,Why dost thou still besiege my heart?Of me infatuate thou art,From me thou canst not rest!
My five engirdling battlementsAre all besieged by Thee;The Ear, the Eye, Taste, Smell, and Touch,By Love, mine Enemy:If I come forth I cannot flee,Nor hide me from Thy quest.
If I come forth by way of Sight,Love, Love is all around ;In radiance painted on the skies,In colour on the ground :They plead with me, in beauty drowned,To take Thee to my breast.
If I come forth by Hearing's gate,O what is this I hear?What is this woven mist of soundThat breaks upon mine ear?Here's no escape! Thy voice is clear,—'Tis Love, in music drest.
If I come forth by way of Taste,In savours Thou art set;That Love Divine, Who craves for me,And snares me in His net,Prisons me close, and closer yet,To be His child and guest.
If I come forth by way of Smell,Thine odours sweet and fineIn every creature I perceive,And every one divine;Thy spears they are, to make me Thine,They wound at Thy behest.
If I come forth by way of Touch,On every creature fairIn sacred awe I lay my hands,For Thou art sculptured there ;'Twere madness, Love, this way to dareEscape Thy sweet conquest.
O Love, why do I flee from Thee?Why should I fear to yield?Because Thou wouldst re-make my heart,In fires of love annealed?No more myself, in Thee concealed,And by Thy love possessed.
I, if I see another movedThe downward step to make,I am made partner of his loss,I suffer for his sake:Whom, Love Unmeasured, dost Thou takeTo Thy compassion blest?
Lead me to Christ, Who died for me,Draw me from sea to shore:And make me mourn in penitenceThe wounds and griefs He bore:Why did He suffer pains so sore?That I might be at rest.
Words in this poem
- closer n.
- One who, or that which, closes; specifically, a boot closer. See under Boot.
- behest v. t.
- To vow. Paston.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
How the Soul Finds God in All Creatures by Means of the Senses is in the public domain. This text is taken from Jacopone da Todi, Poet and Mystic, 1228-1306: A Spiritual Biography, with a Selection from the Spiritual Songs, Internet Archive, the Mrs. Theodore Beck 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: Jacopone da Todi, How the Soul Finds God in All Creatures by Means of the Senses, in The Lauds (1919), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/jacopone-lauds/how-the-soul-finds-god-in-all-creatures-by-means-of-the-sens.html, id L27110.
Form and metre
How the Soul Finds God in All Creatures by Means of the Senses is 58 lines in 10 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 -AA- great · heartA · artA · rest
- 2 -A--A- battlements · theeA · touch · enemy · fleeA · quest
- 3 -A-AA- sight · aroundA · skies · groundA · drownedA · breast
- 4 -A-AA- gate · hearA · sound · earA · clearA · drest
- 5 -A-AA- taste · setA · me · netA · yetA · guest
- 6 -A-AA- smell · fineA · perceive · divineA · thineA · behest
- 7 -A-AA- touch · fairA · hands · thereA · dareA · conquest
- 8 -A-AA- thee · yieldA · heart · annealedA · concealedA · possessed
- 9 -A-AA- moved · makeA · loss · sakeA · takeA · blest
- 10 -A-AA- me · shoreA · penitence · boreA · soreA · rest
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| O Love Divine and Great, | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| Why dost thou still besiege my heart? | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Of me infatuate thou art, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| From me thou canst not rest! | 6 | ······ |
| My five engirdling battlements | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Are all besieged by Thee; | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| The Ear, the Eye, Taste, Smell, and Touch, | 8 | ········ |
| By Love, mine Enemy: | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| If I come forth I cannot flee, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Nor hide me from Thy quest. | 6 | ······ |
| If I come forth by way of Sight, | 8 | ········ |
| Love, Love is all around ; | 6 | ······ |
| In radiance painted on the skies, | 9 | ·/˘˘/˘··· |
| In colour on the ground : | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| They plead with me, in beauty drowned, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To take Thee to my breast. | 6 | ······ |
| If I come forth by Hearing's gate, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| O what is this I hear? | 6 | ······ |
| What is this woven mist of sound | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| That breaks upon mine ear? | 6 | ······ |
| Here's no escape! Thy voice is clear,— | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| 'Tis Love, in music drest. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| If I come forth by way of Taste, | 8 | ········ |
| In savours Thou art set; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| That Love Divine, Who craves for me, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| And snares me in His net, | 6 | ······ |
| Prisons me close, and closer yet, | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| To be His child and guest. | 6 | ······ |
| If I come forth by way of Smell, | 8 | ········ |
| Thine odours sweet and fine | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| In every creature I perceive, | 9 | ·/˘˘/˘·˘/ |
| And every one divine; | 7 | ·/˘˘·˘/ |
| Thy spears they are, to make me Thine, | 8 | ········ |
| They wound at Thy behest. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| If I come forth by way of Touch, | 8 | ········ |
| On every creature fair | 7 | ·/˘˘/˘· |
| In sacred awe I lay my hands, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| For Thou art sculptured there ; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| 'Twere madness, Love, this way to dare | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Escape Thy sweet conquest. | 6 | ˘/··/˘ |
| O Love, why do I flee from Thee? | 8 | ········ |
| Why should I fear to yield? | 6 | ······ |
| Because Thou wouldst re-make my heart, | 8 | ········ |
| In fires of love annealed? | 7 | ·/˘··˘/ |
| No more myself, in Thee concealed, | 8 | ···/··˘/ |
| And by Thy love possessed. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| I, if I see another moved | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| The downward step to make, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| I am made partner of his loss, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I suffer for his sake: | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Whom, Love Unmeasured, dost Thou take | 8 | ········ |
| To Thy compassion blest? | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| Lead me to Christ, Who died for me, | 8 | ········ |
| Draw me from sea to shore: | 6 | ······ |
| And make me mourn in penitence | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| The wounds and griefs He bore: | 6 | ······ |
| Why did He suffer pains so sore? | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| That I might be at rest. | 6 | ······ |
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.