On a Portrait of Dante by Giotto
Can this be thou who, lean and pale,With such immitigable eyeDidst look upon those writhing souls in bale,And note each vengeance, and pass byUnmoved, save when thy heart by chanceCast backward one forbidden glance,And saw Francesca, with child's glee,Subdue and mount thy wild-horse kneeAnd with proud hands control its fiery prance?
With half-drooped lids, and smooth, round brow,And eye remote, that inly seesFair Beatrice's spirit wandering nowIn some sea-lulled Hesperides,Thou movest through the jarring street,Secluded from the noise of feetBy her gift-blossom in thy hand,Thy branch of palm from Holy Land;--No trace is here of ruin's fiery sleet.
Yet there is something round thy lipsThat prophesies the coming doom,The soft, gray herald-shadow ere the eclipseNotches the perfect disk with gloom;A something that would banish thee,And thine untamed pursuer be,From men and their unworthy fates,Though Florence had not shut her gates,And grief had loosed her clutch and let thee free.
Ah! he who follows fearlesslyThe beckonings of a poet-heartShall wander, and without the world's decree,A banished man in field and mart;Harder than Florence' walls the barWhich with deaf sternness holds him farFrom home and friends, till death's release,And makes his only prayer for peace,Like thine, scarred veteran of a lifelong war!
Words in this poem
- immitigable a.
- Not capable of being mitigated, softened, or appeased. [L. immitigabilis; fr. pref. im- not + mitigare to mitigate.]
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- unmoved a.
- Not moved; fixed; firm; unshaken; calm; apathetic.
- glee n.
- Music; minstrelsy; entertainment.
- inly a.
- Internal; interior; secret. [OE. inlich, AS. inlic. See In.]
- jarring a.
- Shaking; disturbing; discordant. [See Jar.]
- sleet n.
- The part of a mortar extending from the chamber to the trunnions.
- 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,]
- mart v. t.
- To buy or sell in, or as in, a mart.
- sternness n.
- The quality or state of being stern.
- lifelong a.
- Lasting or continuing through life. [Life + long. Cf. Livelong.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On a Portrait of Dante by Giotto is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems of James Russell Lowell With biographical sketch by Nathan Haskell Dole, Project Gutenberg ebook #38520; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: James Russell Lowell, On a Portrait of Dante by Giotto, in Poems (1844–1888), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #38520, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lowell-james-russell-poems/on-a-portrait-of-dante-by-giotto.html, id L13723.
Form and metre
On a Portrait of Dante by Giotto is 36 lines in 4 stanzas of 9 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCCDDC, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.6 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 36% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABABCCDDC paleA · eyeB · baleA · byB · chanceC · glanceC · gleeD · kneeD · pranceC
- 2 A-A-BBCCB browA · sees · nowA · hesperides · streetB · feetB · handC · landC · sleetB
- 3 ABABCCDDC lipsA · doomB · eclipseA · gloomB · theeC · beC · fatesD · gatesD · freeC
- 4 -A-ABBCC- fearlessly · heartA · decree · martA · barB · farB · releaseC · peaceC · war
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Can this be thou who, lean and pale, | 8 | ········ |
| With such immitigable eye | 8 | ··˘/˘˘˘· |
| Didst look upon those writhing souls in bale, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And note each vengeance, and pass by | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Unmoved, save when thy heart by chance | 9 | ˘/˘······ |
| Cast backward one forbidden glance, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| And saw Francesca, with child's glee, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Subdue and mount thy wild-horse knee | 8 | ˘/······ |
| And with proud hands control its fiery prance? | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| With half-drooped lids, and smooth, round brow, | 9 | ···˘····· |
| And eye remote, that inly sees | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Fair Beatrice's spirit wandering now | 10 | ·/˘˘˘//˘˘· |
| In some sea-lulled Hesperides, | 9 | ····˘˘/˘˘ |
| Thou movest through the jarring street, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Secluded from the noise of feet | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| By her gift-blossom in thy hand, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Thy branch of palm from Holy Land;-- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| No trace is here of ruin's fiery sleet. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Yet there is something round thy lips | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| That prophesies the coming doom, | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| The soft, gray herald-shadow ere the eclipse | 11 | ···/˘/···˘/ |
| Notches the perfect disk with gloom; | 8 | /˘·˘/··· |
| A something that would banish thee, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And thine untamed pursuer be, | 9 | ····˘˘/˘· |
| From men and their unworthy fates, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Though Florence had not shut her gates, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And grief had loosed her clutch and let thee free. | 10 | ·········· |
| Ah! he who follows fearlessly | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The beckonings of a poet-heart | 9 | ·/˘˘··/˘· |
| Shall wander, and without the world's decree, | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| A banished man in field and mart; | 9 | ·/˘˘····· |
| Harder than Florence' walls the bar | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Which with deaf sternness holds him far | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| From home and friends, till death's release, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And makes his only prayer for peace, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Like thine, scarred veteran of a lifelong war! | 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.