Scene IV
ORPHEUS, at the gate of Hell. Pity, nay pity for a lover's moan!Ye Powers of Hell, let pity reign in you!To your dark regions led me Love alone:Downward upon his wings of light I flew.Hush, Cerberus! Howl not by Pluto's throne!For when you hear my tale of misery, you,Nor you alone, but all who here abideIn this blind world, will weep by Lethe's tide.There is no need, ye Furies, thus to rage;To dart those snakes that in your tresses twine:Knew ye the cause of this my pilgrimage,Ye would lie down and join your moans with mine.Let this poor wretch but pass, who war doth wageWith heaven, the elements, the powers divine!I beg for pity or for death. No more!But open, ope Hell's adamantine door!
PLUTO. What man is he who with his golden lyreHath moved the gates that never move,While the dead folk repeat his dirge of love?The rolling stone no more doth tireSwart Sisyphus on yonder hill;And Tantalus with water slakes his fire;The groans of mangled Tityos are still;Ixion's wheel forgets to fly;The Danaids their urns can fill:I hear no more the tortured spirits cry;But all find rest in that sweet harmony.
PROSERPINE. Dear consort, since, compelled by love of thee,I left the light of heaven serene,And came to reign in hell, a sombre queen;The charm of tenderest sympathyHath never yet had power to turnMy stubborn heart, or draw forth tears from me.Now with desire for yon sweet voice I yearn;Nor is there aught so dearAs that delight. Nay, be not sternTo this one prayer! Relax thy brows severe,And rest awhile with me that song to hear!
ORPHEUS. Ye rulers of the people lost in gloom,Who see no more the jocund light of day!Ye who inherit all things that the wombOf Nature and the elements display!Hear ye the grief that draws me to the tomb!Love, cruel Love, hath led me on this way:Not to chain Cerberus I hither come,But to bring back my mistress to her home.A serpent hidden among flowers and leavesStole my fair mistress—nay, my heart—from me:Wherefore my wounded life for ever grieves,Nor can I stand against this agony.Still, if some fragrance lingers yet and cleavesOf your famed love unto your memory,If of that ancient rape you think at all,Give back Eurydice!—On you I call.All things ere long unto this bourne descend:All mortal lives to you return at last:Whate'er the moon hath circled, in the endMust fade and perish in your empire vast:Some sooner and some later hither wend;Yet all upon this pathway shall have passed:This of our footsteps is the final goal;And then we dwell for aye in your control.Therefore the nymph I love is left for youWhen nature leads her deathward in due time:But now you've cropped the tendrils as they grew,The grapes unripe, while yet the sap did climb:Who reaps the young blades wet with April dew,Nor waits till summer hath o'erpassed her prime?Give back, give back my hope one little day!—Not for a gift, but for a loan I pray.I pray not to you by the waves forlornOf marshy Styx or dismal Acheron,By Chaos where the mighty world was born,Or by the sounding flames of Phlegethon;But by the fruit which charmed thee on that mornWhen thou didst leave our world for this dread throne!O queen! if thou reject this pleading breath,I will no more return, but ask for death!
PROSERPINE. Husband, I never guessedThat in our realm oppressedPity could find a home to dwell:But now I know that mercy teems in Hell.I see Death weep; her breastIs shaken by those tears that faultless fell.Let then thy laws severe for him be swayedBy love, by song, by the just prayers he prayed!
PLUTO. She's thine, but at this price:Bend not on her thine eyes,Till mid the souls that live she stay.See that thou turn not back upon the way!Check all fond thoughts that rise!Else will thy love be torn from thee away.I am well pleased that song so rare as thineThe might of my dread sceptre should incline.
Words in this poem 32
- orpheus n.
- The famous mythic Thracian poet, son of the Muse Calliope, and husband of Eurydice. He is reputed to have had power to entrance beasts and inanimate objects by the music of his lyre.
- cerberus n.
- A monster, in the shape, of a three-headed dog, guarding the entrance into the infernal regions, Hence: Any vigilant custodian or guardian, esp. if surly.
- pilgrimage n.
- The journey of a pilgrim; a long journey; especially, a journey to a shrine or other sacred place. Fig., the journey of human life. [OE. pilgrimage, pelgrinage; cf. F. pèlerinage.]
- wage v. i.
- To bind one's self; to engage.
- folk n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- dirge n.
- A piece of music of a mournful character, to accompany funeral rites; a funeral hymn. [Contraction of Lat. dirige, direct thou (imperative of dirigere), the first word of a funeral hymn (Lat. transl. of Psalm v. 8) beginning, "Dirige, Domine, in c]
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
- sombre n.
- Gloom; obscurity; duskiness; somberness.
- yearn v. t.
- To pain; to grieve; to vex. [Also earn, ern; probably a corruption of OE. ermen to grieve, AS. ierman, yrman, or geierman, geyrman, fr. earm wretched, poor; akin to D. & G. arm, Icel. armr,]
- aught n.
- Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
- awhile adv.
- For a while; for some time; for a short time. [Adj. a + while time, interval.]
- jocund
- Merry; cheerful; gay; airy; lively; sportive. [L. jocundus, jucundus, orig., helpful, fr. juvare to help. See Aid.]
- womb n.
- The belly; the abdomen. [OE. wombe, wambe, AS. wamb, womb; akin to D. wam belly, OS. & OHG. wamba, G. wamme, wampe, Icel. vömb, Sw. v&mb, Dan. vom, Goth. wamba.]
- stole n.
- A long, loose garment reaching to the feet. [AS. stole, L. stola, Gr. stall. See Stall.]
- wherefore adv.
- For which reason; so; -- used relatively. [Where + for.]
- bourne n.
- A stream or rivulet; a burn. [OE. burne, borne, AS. burna; akin to OS. brunno spring, G. born, brunnen, OHG. prunno, Goth. brunna, Icel. brunnr, and perh. to Gr. burn, v., because the source]
- circled a.
- Having the form of a circle; round.
- wend n.
- A large extent of ground; a perambulation; a circuit.
- pathway n.
- A footpath; a beaten track; any path or course. Also used figuratively.
- 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,]
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
- forlorn a.
- Deserted abandoned; lost. [OE., p.p. of forlesen to lose utterly, AS. forleósan (p.p. forloren); pref. for- + leósan (in comp.) to lose; cf. D. verliezen to lose, G. verlieren, Sw. förlor]
- styx n.
- The principal river of the lower world, which had to be crossed in passing to the regions of the dead.
- dismal a.
- Fatal; ill-omened; unlucky. [Formerly a noun; e. g., "I trow it was in the dismalle." Chaucer. Of uncertain origin; but perh. (as suggested by Skeat) from OF. disme, F. dîme, tithe, the phr]
- acheron n.
- A river in the Nether World or infernal regions; also, the infernal regions themselves. By some of the English poets it was supposed to be a flaming lake or gulf.
- chaos n.
- An empty, immeasurable space; a yawning chasm. [L. chaos chaos (in senses 1 & 2), Gr. Chasm.]
- phlegethon n.
- One of the principal rivers of Hades, in the channel of which fire flowed instead of water.
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- faultless a.
- Without fault; not defective or imperfect; free from blemish; free from incorrectness, vice, or offense; perfect; as, a faultless poem.
- swayed a.
- Bent down, and hollow in the back; sway-backed; -- said of a horse.
- sceptre n.
- A staff or baton borne by a sovereign, as a ceremonial badge or emblem of authority; a royal mace. [F. sceptre, L. sceptrum, from Gr. shaft. See Shaft, and cf. Scape a stem, shaft.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Scene IV is in the public domain. This text is taken from The 'Orfeo' of Poliziano, tr. John Addington Symonds (first printed in Sketches and Studies in Italy, 1879; this text is Horatio F. Brown's 1898 combined reprint), Project Gutenberg ebook #18893, 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: Angelo Poliziano, Scene IV, in Orfeo (1879), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18893, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/poliziano-orfeo/scene-iv.html, id L26555.
Form and metre
Scene IV is 94 lines in 6 stanzas. The commonest rhyme scheme is AABBABCC, in 2 of the 6 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
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 ABABABCCDEDEDEFF moanA · youB · aloneA · flewB · throneA · youB · abideC · tideC · rageD · twineE · pilgrimageD · mineE · wageD · divineE · moreF · doorF
- 2 ABB-CACDCD- lyreA · moveB · loveB · tire · hillC · fireA · stillC · flyD · fillC · cryD · harmony
- 3 ABB-CACDCDD theeA · sereneB · queenB · sympathy · turnC · meA · yearnC · dearD · sternC · severeD · hearD
- 4 ABABABCCD-D-D-EEFGFGFGHHIJIJIJKKLMLML-NN gloomA · dayB · wombA · displayB · tombA · wayB · comeC · homeC · leavesD · me · grievesD · agony · cleavesD · memory · allE · callE · descendF · lastG · endF · vastG · wendF · passedG · goalH · controlH · youI · timeJ · grewI · climbJ · dewI · primeJ · dayK · prayK · forlornL · acheronM · bornL · phlegethonM · mornL · throne · breathN · deathN
- 5 AABBABCC guessedA · oppressedA · dwellB · hellB · breastA · fellB · swayedC · prayedC
- 6 AABBABCC priceA · eyesA · stayB · wayB · riseA · awayB · thineC · inclineC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| ORPHEUS, at the gate of Hell. Pity, nay pity for a lover's moan! | 17 | /˘·····/˘·/˘··/˘· |
| Ye Powers of Hell, let pity reign in you! | 10 | ·/···/˘··· |
| To your dark regions led me Love alone: | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Downward upon his wings of light I flew. | 10 | /˘········ |
| Hush, Cerberus! Howl not by Pluto's throne! | 10 | ·/˘˘···/˘· |
| For when you hear my tale of misery, you, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Nor you alone, but all who here abide | 10 | ··˘/····˘/ |
| In this blind world, will weep by Lethe's tide. | 9 | ········· |
| There is no need, ye Furies, thus to rage; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| To dart those snakes that in your tresses twine: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Knew ye the cause of this my pilgrimage, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Ye would lie down and join your moans with mine. | 10 | ·········· |
| Let this poor wretch but pass, who war doth wage | 10 | ·········· |
| With heaven, the elements, the powers divine! | 10 | ·/·/˘˘·/˘/ |
| I beg for pity or for death. No more! | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| But open, ope Hell's adamantine door! | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| PLUTO. What man is he who with his golden lyre | 12 | /˘·······/˘· |
| Hath moved the gates that never move, | 9 | ··˘···/˘· |
| While the dead folk repeat his dirge of love? | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| The rolling stone no more doth tire | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| Swart Sisyphus on yonder hill; | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| And Tantalus with water slakes his fire; | 11 | ·/˘˘·/˘··/˘ |
| The groans of mangled Tityos are still; | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| Ixion's wheel forgets to fly; | 8 | ˘/˘·˘/·· |
| The Danaids their urns can fill: | 7 | ······· |
| I hear no more the tortured spirits cry; | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| But all find rest in that sweet harmony. | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| PROSERPINE. Dear consort, since, compelled by love of thee, | 13 | ····˘/·˘/···· |
| I left the light of heaven serene, | 9 | ·····/˘˘/ |
| And came to reign in hell, a sombre queen; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The charm of tenderest sympathy | 9 | ···/˘˘/˘˘ |
| Hath never yet had power to turn | 9 | ·/˘··/˘·· |
| My stubborn heart, or draw forth tears from me. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Now with desire for yon sweet voice I yearn; | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Nor is there aught so dear | 6 | ······ |
| As that delight. Nay, be not stern | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| To this one prayer! Relax thy brows severe, | 10 | ····˘/··˘/ |
| And rest awhile with me that song to hear! | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| ORPHEUS. Ye rulers of the people lost in gloom, | 12 | /˘·/˘··/˘··· |
| Who see no more the jocund light of day! | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Ye who inherit all things that the womb | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Of Nature and the elements display! | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘˘/ |
| Hear ye the grief that draws me to the tomb! | 10 | ·········· |
| Love, cruel Love, hath led me on this way: | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Not to chain Cerberus I hither come, | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘· |
| But to bring back my mistress to her home. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| A serpent hidden among flowers and leaves | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/·· |
| Stole my fair mistress—nay, my heart—from me: | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Wherefore my wounded life for ever grieves, | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| Nor can I stand against this agony. | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Still, if some fragrance lingers yet and cleaves | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Of your famed love unto your memory, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| If of that ancient rape you think at all, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Give back Eurydice!—On you I call. | 10 | ·········· |
| All things ere long unto this bourne descend: | 10 | ········˘/ |
| All mortal lives to you return at last: | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| Whate'er the moon hath circled, in the end | 11 | ˘˘/···/˘··· |
| Must fade and perish in your empire vast: | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Some sooner and some later hither wend; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Yet all upon this pathway shall have passed: | 10 | ·····/···· |
| This of our footsteps is the final goal; | 10 | ··//···/˘· |
| And then we dwell for aye in your control. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Therefore the nymph I love is left for you | 10 | ·········· |
| When nature leads her deathward in due time: | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| But now you've cropped the tendrils as they grew, | 10 | ·········· |
| The grapes unripe, while yet the sap did climb: | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Who reaps the young blades wet with April dew, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Nor waits till summer hath o'erpassed her prime? | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Give back, give back my hope one little day!— | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Not for a gift, but for a loan I pray. | 10 | ·········· |
| I pray not to you by the waves forlorn | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Of marshy Styx or dismal Acheron, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘˘ |
| By Chaos where the mighty world was born, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Or by the sounding flames of Phlegethon; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘˘ |
| But by the fruit which charmed thee on that morn | 10 | ·········· |
| When thou didst leave our world for this dread throne! | 10 | ····/····· |
| O queen! if thou reject this pleading breath, | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| I will no more return, but ask for death! | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| PROSERPINE. Husband, I never guessed | 10 | ···/˘·/˘·˘ |
| That in our realm oppressed | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Pity could find a home to dwell: | 8 | /˘······ |
| But now I know that mercy teems in Hell. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| I see Death weep; her breast | 6 | ······ |
| Is shaken by those tears that faultless fell. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Let then thy laws severe for him be swayed | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| By love, by song, by the just prayers he prayed! | 10 | ·········· |
| PLUTO. She's thine, but at this price: | 8 | /˘······ |
| Bend not on her thine eyes, | 6 | ······ |
| Till mid the souls that live she stay. | 8 | ········ |
| See that thou turn not back upon the way! | 10 | ·········· |
| Check all fond thoughts that rise! | 6 | ······ |
| Else will thy love be torn from thee away. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| I am well pleased that song so rare as thine | 10 | ·········· |
| The might of my dread sceptre should incline. | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
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