Dante
What should be said of him cannot be said;By too great splendor is his name attended;To blame is easier those who him offended,Than reach the faintest glory round him shed.This man descended to the doomed and deadFor our instruction; then to God ascended;Heaven opened wide to him its portals splendid,Who from his country's, closed against him, fled.Ungrateful land! To its own prejudiceNurse of his fortunes; and this showeth well,That the most perfect most of grief shall see.Among a thousand proofs let one suffice,That as his exile hath no parallel,Ne'er walked the earth a greater man than he.
Words in this poem
- ungrateful a.
- Not grateful; not thankful for favors; making no returns, or making ill return for kindness, attention, etc.; ingrateful. South.
- 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,]
- suffice v. i.
- To be enough, or sufficient; to meet the need (of anything); to be equal to the end proposed; to be adequate. [OE. suffisen, OF. soufire, F. suffire (cf. suffisant, p.pr.), L. sufficere to put under, to substitute, to avail for, to suffice; sub under + facere to make. Se]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Dante 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, Dante, in The Complete Poetical Works (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/dante-2.html, id L18097.
Form and metre
Dante is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAABBACDECDE, the pattern of the Italian sonnet. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.3 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 14% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other Italian sonnets, 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 ABBAABBACDECDE saidA · attendedB · offendedB · shedA · deadA · ascendedB · splendidB · fledA · prejudiceC · wellD · seeE · sufficeC · parallelD · heE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| What should be said of him cannot be said; | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| By too great splendor is his name attended; | 11 | ···/˘···˘/˘ |
| To blame is easier those who him offended, | 11 | ···/˘···˘/˘ |
| Than reach the faintest glory round him shed. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| This man descended to the doomed and dead | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| For our instruction; then to God ascended; | 11 | ·/˘/˘···˘/˘ |
| Heaven opened wide to him its portals splendid, | 11 | //˘····/˘/˘ |
| Who from his country's, closed against him, fled. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Ungrateful land! To its own prejudice | 9 | ˘/˘····/˘ |
| Nurse of his fortunes; and this showeth well, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| That the most perfect most of grief shall see. | 10 | ···˘/····· |
| Among a thousand proofs let one suffice, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| That as his exile hath no parallel, | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| Ne'er walked the earth a greater man than he. | 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.