To Italy
Italy! Italy! thou who'rt doomed to wearThe fatal gift of beauty, and possessThe dower funest of infinite wretchednessWritten upon thy forehead by despair;Ah! would that thou wert stronger, or less fair.That they might fear thee more, or love thee less,Who in the splendor of thy lovelinessSeem wasting, yet to mortal combat dare!Then from the Alps I should not see descendingSuch torrents of armed men, nor Gallic hordeDrinking the wave of Po, distained with gore,Nor should I see thee girded with a swordNot thine, and with the stranger's arm contending,Victor or vanquished, slave forever more.
Words in this poem
- funest a.
- Lamentable; doleful. [L. funestus, fr. funus a funeral, destruction: cf. F. funeste.]
- loveliness n.
- The state or quality of being lovely. [From Lovely.]
- horde n.
- A wandering troop or gang; especially, a clan or tribe of a nomadic people migrating from place to place for the sake of pasturage, plunder, etc.; a predatory multitude. Thomson. [F. horde (cf. G. horde), fr. Turk. ord, ordi, camp; of Tartar origin.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Italy is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Project Gutenberg ebook #1365; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, To Italy, in A Psalm of Life, and Other Poems (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/by-vincenzo-da-filicaja.html, id L18091.
Form and metre
To Italy is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAABBACDEDCE. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 50% 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 ABBAABBACDEDCE wearA · possessB · wretchednessB · despairA · fairA · lessB · lovelinessB · dareA · descendingC · hordeD · goreE · swordD · contendingC · moreE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Italy! Italy! thou who'rt doomed to wear | 10 | /˘/˘˘····· |
| The fatal gift of beauty, and possess | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| The dower funest of infinite wretchedness | 11 | ··˘/·/˘˘/˘˘ |
| Written upon thy forehead by despair; | 10 | /˘···/˘·˘/ |
| Ah! would that thou wert stronger, or less fair. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| That they might fear thee more, or love thee less, | 10 | ·········· |
| Who in the splendor of thy loveliness | 10 | ···/˘··/˘˘ |
| Seem wasting, yet to mortal combat dare! | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Then from the Alps I should not see descending | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| Such torrents of armed men, nor Gallic horde | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Drinking the wave of Po, distained with gore, | 10 | /˘········ |
| Nor should I see thee girded with a sword | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Not thine, and with the stranger's arm contending, | 11 | ·····/˘·˘/˘ |
| Victor or vanquished, slave forever more. | 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.