Ignorance of Love
Little knows he of love's sweet fascinations,Who calls them fetters, fit for slavery;For love gives wings to soar, not chains to humble,And on his pinions to the stars I fly.
No eagle, tho' above the clouds ascending,Has pinions half so strong as those of love—They take me where the earth is but an atom,Seen from the infinite heights of heaven above.
They open to me those celestial gardensWhere bloom the odorous flowers that know no death;They wreathe the stars into immortal garlands,And my. proud brow encircle with the wreath.
Bright glances of the noon, then midnight darkness.In wild succession swiftly come and go;The sudden shiftings of creative fancies—Deities, devils—blessedness and woe!
I fly thro' hell, I fly thro' heaven,—the torturesThat hell is cursed with,—all, yes, all are mine;Then in an instant is my soul enrapturedWith all that heaven can hold of joy divine.
Words in this poem
- blessedness n.
- The state of being blessed; happiness; felicity; bliss; heavenly joys; the favor of God.
- cursed a.
- Deserving a curse; execrable; hateful; detestable; abominable.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ignorance of Love is in the public domain. This text is taken from Translations from Alexander Petofi, the Magyar Poet, by Sir John Bowring (London: Trübner & Co., 1866), Internet Archive, the John Bowring 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: Sándor Petőfi, Ignorance of Love, in Translations from Alexander Petofi, the Magyar Poet (1866), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petofi-poems-bowring/ignorance-of-love.html, id L29809.
Form and metre
Ignorance of Love is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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.
- 2 -A-A ascending · loveA · atom · aboveA
- 4 -A-A darkness · goA · fancies · woeA
- 5 -A-A tortures · mineA · enraptured · divineA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Little knows he of love's sweet fascinations, | 11 | /˘······˘/˘ |
| Who calls them fetters, fit for slavery; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘˘ |
| For love gives wings to soar, not chains to humble, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| And on his pinions to the stars I fly. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| No eagle, tho' above the clouds ascending, | 11 | ·/˘·····˘/˘ |
| Has pinions half so strong as those of love— | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| They take me where the earth is but an atom, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Seen from the infinite heights of heaven above. | 11 | ···/˘˘··/·· |
| They open to me those celestial gardens | 11 | ·/˘···˘/˘/˘ |
| Where bloom the odorous flowers that know no death; | 11 | ···/˘˘/···· |
| They wreathe the stars into immortal garlands, | 11 | ······˘/˘/˘ |
| And my. proud brow encircle with the wreath. | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Bright glances of the noon, then midnight darkness. | 11 | ·/˘····/·/˘ |
| In wild succession swiftly come and go; | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| The sudden shiftings of creative fancies— | 11 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘/˘ |
| Deities, devils—blessedness and woe! | 10 | /˘˘/˘/˘˘·· |
| I fly thro' hell, I fly thro' heaven,—the tortures | 12 | ·······/˘·/˘ |
| That hell is cursed with,—all, yes, all are mine; | 11 | ····˘······ |
| Then in an instant is my soul enraptured | 11 | ···/˘···˘/˘ |
| With all that heaven can hold of joy divine. | 11 | ···/˘····˘/ |
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.