Of Impatience, Which Brings All Our Gains to Nothing

Jacopone da Todi (c. 1230–1306), translated by Mrs. Theodore Beck · 1919

iambic pentameter · heroic couplets · 30 lines · from The Lauds

I LABOURED long, I strove with might and main:And yet I cannot keep the good I gain.

Yea, I have been a monk full many a year,Have suffered much, and wandered far and near,Have sought and found,—yet held not,—till I fearThat nothing can I show for all my pain.

In calm retreats my truest joy I found ;I strove in prayer, with no uncertain sound:I fed the poor for many miles around :In sickness, very patient have I lain.

In uttermost obedience did I dwell,In suffering and poverty as well ;Yea, I was chaste and happy in my cell,So far as my poor powers could attain.

Famished and weak, I fasted many a day ;Dried up by heat and pinched by cold I lay;I was a pilgrim on a weary way,Or so it seemed, in sunshine and in rain.

To pray, I daily rose before the sun ;Mass did I hear before the dark was done ;To tierce and nones and vespers would I run,And, after compline, still to watch was fain.

And then was said to me a scornful word!—Deep in my heart the poisoned arrow stirred,—At once my tongue was ready when I heard,With fierce and burning fury to complain.

Now see how great and wealthy I must be!I heap my gains for all the world to see ;Yet one poor word so fiercely angers me,That I must strive to pardon it in vain!

Words in this poem

laboured a.: Bearing marks of labor and effort; elaborately wrought; not easy or natural; as, labored poetry; a labored style.
uttermost a.: Extreme; utmost; being; in the farthest, greatest, or highest degree; as, the uttermost extent or end. [From Utter, a.; cf. Utmost, and Outermost.]
dwell v. i.: To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
sunshine n.: The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
tierce n.: A cask whose content is one third of a pipe; that is, forty-two wine gallons; also, a liquid measure of forty-two wine, or thirty- five imperial, gallons. [F. tierce a third, from tiers, tierce, third, fr. L. tertius the third; akin to tres three. See Third, Three, and cf. Terce, Tercet, Tertiary.]
compline n.: The last division of the Roman Catholic breviary; the seventh and last of the canonical hours of the Western church; the last prayer of the day, to be said after sunset. [From OE. complie, OF. complie, F. complies, pl., fr. LL. completa (prop. fem. of L. completus) the religious exercise which completes and closes the service of ]
fain v. t.: To be glad ; to wish or desire.

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

Of Impatience, Which Brings All Our Gains to Nothing 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, Of Impatience, Which Brings All Our Gains to Nothing, in The Lauds (1919), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/jacopone-lauds/of-impatience-which-brings-all-our-gains-to-nothing.html, id L27101.

Form and metre

Of Impatience, Which Brings All Our Gains to Nothing is 30 lines in 8 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 53% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).

See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 AA main^A · gain^A
2 BBBA year^B · near^B · fear^B · pain^A
3 CCCA found^C · sound^C · around^C · lain^A
4 DDDA dwell^D · well^D · cell^D · attain^A
5 EEEA day^E · lay^E · way^E · rain^A
6 FFFA sun^F · done^F · run^F · fain^A
7 GGGA word^G · stirred^G · heard^G · complain^A
8 HHHA be^H · see^H · me^H · vain^A

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
I LABOURED long, I strove with might and main:	10	·/˘·······
And yet I cannot keep the good I gain.	10	···/˘·····
Yea, I have been a monk full many a year,	10	·······/··
Have suffered much, and wandered far and near,	10	·/˘··/˘···
Have sought and found,—yet held not,—till I fear	10	··········
That nothing can I show for all my pain.	10	·/˘·······
In calm retreats my truest joy I found ;	10	··˘/·/˘···
I strove in prayer, with no uncertain sound:	10	······˘/˘·
I fed the poor for many miles around :	10	·····/˘···
In sickness, very patient have I lain.	10	·/˘/˘/˘···
In uttermost obedience did I dwell,	10	·/˘˘˘/˘···
In suffering and poverty as well ;	10	·/˘˘·/˘˘··
Yea, I was chaste and happy in my cell,	10	·····/˘···
So far as my poor powers could attain.	10	·····/˘·˘/
Famished and weak, I fasted many a day ;	10	·····/˘/··
Dried up by heat and pinched by cold I lay;	10	··········
I was a pilgrim on a weary way,	10	···/˘··/˘·
Or so it seemed, in sunshine and in rain.	10	·····/····
To pray, I daily rose before the sun ;	10	···/˘·····
Mass did I hear before the dark was done ;	10	··········
To tierce and nones and vespers would I run,	10	·····/˘···
And, after compline, still to watch was fain.	10	··········
And then was said to me a scornful word!	10	·······/˘·
—Deep in my heart the poisoned arrow stirred,—	10	·····/˘/˘·
At once my tongue was ready when I heard,	10	·····/˘···
With fierce and burning fury to complain.	10	···/˘/˘·˘/
Now see how great and wealthy I must be!	10	·····/˘···
I heap my gains for all the world to see ;	10	··········
Yet one poor word so fiercely angers me,	10	·····/˘/˘·
That I must strive to pardon it in vain!	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.

More by Jacopone da Todi

The Lauds