Dante
Tuscan, that wanderest through the realms of gloom,With thoughtful pace, and sad, majestic eyes,Stern thoughts and awful from thy soul arise,Like Farinata from his fiery tomb.Thy sacred song is like the trump of doom;Yet in thy heart what human sympathies,What soft compassion glows, as in the skiesThe tender stars their clouded lamps relume!Methinks I see thee stand, with pallid cheeks,By Fra Hilario in his diocese,As up the convent-walls, in golden streaks,The ascending sunbeams mark the day's decrease;And, as he asks what there the stranger seeks,Thy voice along the cloister whispers, "Peace!"
Words in this poem
- relume v. t.
- To rekindle; to light again. [OF. relumer (cf. F. rallumer), L. reluminare; pref. re- re- + luminare to light. Cf. Reillume.]
- methinks v.
- It seems to me; I think. See Me. [AS. þyncan to seem, me þynceedh, me þuhte, OE. me thinketh, me thoughte; akin to G. dünken to seem, denken to think, and E. think. See Me, and Think.]
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.html, id L17544.
Form and metre
Dante is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAABBACBCDCD. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 7% 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 ABBAABBACBCDCD gloomA · eyesB · ariseB · tombA · doomA · sympathiesB · skiesB · relumeA · cheeksC · dioceseB · streaksC · decreaseD · seeksC · peaceD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Tuscan, that wanderest through the realms of gloom, | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| With thoughtful pace, and sad, majestic eyes, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Stern thoughts and awful from thy soul arise, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Like Farinata from his fiery tomb. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Thy sacred song is like the trump of doom; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Yet in thy heart what human sympathies, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| What soft compassion glows, as in the skies | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| The tender stars their clouded lamps relume! | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Methinks I see thee stand, with pallid cheeks, | 10 | ˘/·····/˘· |
| By Fra Hilario in his diocese, | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| As up the convent-walls, in golden streaks, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| The ascending sunbeams mark the day's decrease; | 11 | ·˘/˘/····˘/ |
| And, as he asks what there the stranger seeks, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Thy voice along the cloister whispers, "Peace!" | 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.