Heart-Coldness
Fain would I wish what my heart cannot will:Between it and the fire a veil of iceDeadens the fire, so that I deal in lies;My words and actions are discordant still.I love Thee with my tongue, then mourn my fill;For love warms not my heart, nor can I rise,Or ope the doors of Grace, who from the skiesMight flood my soul, and pride and passion kill.Rend Thou the veil, dear Lord! Break Thou that wallWhich with its stubbornness retards the raysOf that bright sun this earth hath dulled for me!Send down Thy promised light to cheer and fallOn Thy fair spouse, that I with love may blaze,And, free from doubt, my heart feel only Thee!
Words in this poem
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- spouse v. t.
- To wed; to espouse. [See Espouse, and Spouse, n.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Heart-Coldness is in the public domain. This text is taken from Sonnets, Project Gutenberg ebook #10314, the John Addington Symonds 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: Michelangelo Buonarroti, Heart-Coldness, in Sonnets (1878), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10314, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/michelangelo-sonnets/heart-coldness.html, id L15217.
Form and metre
Heart-Coldness is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 36% 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 A-BAABBACDECDE willA · ice · liesB · stillA · fillA · riseB · skiesB · killA · wallC · raysD · meE · fallC · blazeD · theeE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Fain would I wish what my heart cannot will: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Between it and the fire a veil of ice | 10 | ·····/···· |
| Deadens the fire, so that I deal in lies; | 10 | /˘·/······ |
| My words and actions are discordant still. | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| I love Thee with my tongue, then mourn my fill; | 10 | ·········· |
| For love warms not my heart, nor can I rise, | 10 | ·········· |
| Or ope the doors of Grace, who from the skies | 10 | ·········· |
| Might flood my soul, and pride and passion kill. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Rend Thou the veil, dear Lord! Break Thou that wall | 10 | ·········· |
| Which with its stubbornness retards the rays | 10 | ···/˘˘˘/·· |
| Of that bright sun this earth hath dulled for me! | 10 | ·········· |
| Send down Thy promised light to cheer and fall | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| On Thy fair spouse, that I with love may blaze, | 10 | ·········· |
| And, free from doubt, my heart feel only Thee! | 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.