Of the Soul, Contrite for Its Offences against God
LORD, wilt Thou grant me death,Lest I should grieve Thee more?Crush my heart to the core,That in evil continueth.
Lord, it is all in vainThy courtesy fair to show,So black is my spirit's stain,So evil, thankless, and low.Nay, end my life at a blow,That hath spurned and resisted Thee.
Better to slay me, Lord,Than Thou to be grieved and defied:I mend not in deed nor word,Thou seest, in sin I abide.Condemn the sinner, long tried ;Pronounce Thy sentence on me.
Begin Thy judgment dread,By taking my health away ;Let my body be sore be-stead,No more in freedom to stray:Prosperity, in its day,It hath used most evilly.
And quench the kindness of man,That none may pity my state:For wilful and cruel I ran,Leaving the sick at the gate.Lord, leave me disconsolate,That hushed my singing may be.
Then gather all creatures for this:Vengeance on me to wreak:I have used them all amiss,Thy righteous laws to break;Let each, O Lord, for Thy sake,Trouble and torture me.
O deathless shall be the lamentMy heart shall make for my Love!By ruin and anguish rent,Deprived of my God above!My heart, canst thou think thereof,Unconsumed by misery?
Canst thou think thereof, my heart?That Sorrowful Love to forsake?From Him to turn and depart,Who suffered all for thy sake?Weep, not for thine own heart-break,But for His dishonour in thee!
Words in this poem
- thankless a.
- Not acknowledging favors; not expressing thankfulness; unthankful; ungrateful.
- sinner n.
- One who has sinned; especially, one who has sinned without repenting; hence, a persistent and incorrigible transgressor; one condemned by the law of God.
- evilly adv.
- In an evil manner; not well; ill.
- disconsolate n.
- Disconsolateness. Barrow.
- wreak v. i.
- To reck; to care.
- deathless a.
- Not subject to death, destruction, or extinction; immortal; undying; imperishable; as, deathless beings; deathless fame.
- 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,]
- depart v. i.
- To part; to divide; to separate. [OE. departen to divide, part, depart, F. départir to divide, distribute, se départir to separate one's self, depart; pref. dé- (L. de) + partir to part, depart,]
- dishonour n.
- Lack of honor; disgrace; ignominy; shame; reproach. [OE. deshonour, dishonour, OF. deshonor, deshonur, F. déshonneur; pref. des- (L. dis-) + honor, honur, F. honneur, fr. L. honor. See Honor.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Of the Soul, Contrite for Its Offences against God 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 the Soul, Contrite for Its Offences against God, in The Lauds (1919), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/jacopone-lauds/of-the-soul-contrite-for-its-offences-against-god.html, id L27085.
Form and metre
Of the Soul, Contrite for Its Offences against God is 46 lines in 8 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%).
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 ABBA deathA · moreB · coreB · continuethA
- 2 ABABB- vainA · showB · stainA · lowB · blowB · thee
- 3 -A-AA- lord · defiedA · word · abideA · triedA · me
- 4 ABABB- dreadA · awayB · steadA · strayB · dayB · evilly
- 5 ABAB-- manA · stateB · ranA · gateB · disconsolate · be
- 6 A-ABB- thisA · wreak · amissA · breakB · sakeB · me
- 7 ABABB- lamentA · loveB · rentA · aboveB · thereofB · misery
- 8 ABABB- heartA · forsakeB · departA · sakeB · breakB · thee
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 |
|---|---|---|
| LORD, wilt Thou grant me death, | 6 | ······ |
| Lest I should grieve Thee more? | 6 | ······ |
| Crush my heart to the core, | 6 | ······ |
| That in evil continueth. | 8 | ··/˘˘/˘˘ |
| Lord, it is all in vain | 6 | ······ |
| Thy courtesy fair to show, | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| So black is my spirit's stain, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| So evil, thankless, and low. | 7 | ·/˘/˘·· |
| Nay, end my life at a blow, | 7 | ······· |
| That hath spurned and resisted Thee. | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Better to slay me, Lord, | 6 | /˘···· |
| Than Thou to be grieved and defied: | 8 | ······˘/ |
| I mend not in deed nor word, | 7 | ······· |
| Thou seest, in sin I abide. | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Condemn the sinner, long tried ; | 7 | ˘/·/˘·· |
| Pronounce Thy sentence on me. | 7 | ˘/·/˘·· |
| Begin Thy judgment dread, | 6 | ˘/·/˘· |
| By taking my health away ; | 7 | ·/˘··˘/ |
| Let my body be sore be-stead, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| No more in freedom to stray: | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Prosperity, in its day, | 7 | ˘/˘˘··· |
| It hath used most evilly. | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| And quench the kindness of man, | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| That none may pity my state: | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| For wilful and cruel I ran, | 7 | ····/·· |
| Leaving the sick at the gate. | 7 | /˘····· |
| Lord, leave me disconsolate, | 7 | ···˘/˘˘ |
| That hushed my singing may be. | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Then gather all creatures for this: | 8 | ·/˘·/˘·· |
| Vengeance on me to wreak: | 6 | /˘···· |
| I have used them all amiss, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Thy righteous laws to break; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Let each, O Lord, for Thy sake, | 7 | ······· |
| Trouble and torture me. | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| O deathless shall be the lament | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| My heart shall make for my Love! | 7 | ······· |
| By ruin and anguish rent, | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| Deprived of my God above! | 7 | ˘/····· |
| My heart, canst thou think thereof, | 7 | ······· |
| Unconsumed by misery? | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| Canst thou think thereof, my heart? | 7 | ······· |
| That Sorrowful Love to forsake? | 7 | ·/˘··˘/ |
| From Him to turn and depart, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Who suffered all for thy sake? | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Weep, not for thine own heart-break, | 7 | ······· |
| But for His dishonour in thee! | 8 | ···˘/˘·· |
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