Scene V
ORPHEUS, sings. Ite triumphales circum mea tempora lauri.Vicimus Eurydicen: reddita vita mihi est,Haec mea praecipue victoria digna coronâ.Credimus? an lateri juncta puella meo?
EURYDICE. Ah me! Thy love too greatHath lost not thee alone!I am torn from thee by strong Fate.No more I am thine own.In vain I stretch these arms. Back, back to HellI'm drawn, I'm drawn. My Orpheus, fare thee well!
ORPHEUS. Who hath laid laws on Love?Will pity not be givenFor one short look so full thereof?Since I am robbed of heaven,Since all my joy so great is turned to pain,I will go back and plead with Death again!
TISIPHONE. Nay, seek not back to turn!Vain is thy weeping, all thy words are vain.Eurydice may not complainOf aught but thee—albeit her grief is great.Vain are thy verses 'gainst the voice of Fate!How vain thy song! For Death is stern!Try not the backward path: thy feet refrain!The laws of the abyss are fixed and firm remain.
Words in this poem
- 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.
- aught n.
- Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
- albeit conj.
- Even though; although; notwithstanding. [OE. al be although it be, where al is our all. Cf. Although.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Scene V 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 V, in Orfeo (1879), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18893, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/poliziano-orfeo/scene-v.html, id L26556.
Form and metre
Scene V is 24 lines in 4 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter.
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 ABABCC greatA · aloneB · fateA · ownB · hellC · wellC
- 3 ABABBB loveA · givenB · thereofA · heavenB · painB · againB
- 4 ABBCCABB turnA · vainB · complainB · greatC · fateC · sternA · refrainB · remainB
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, sings. Ite triumphales circum mea tempora lauri. | 15 | /˘··˘/˘/˘····/˘ |
| Vicimus Eurydicen: reddita vita mihi est, | 16 | ··········/˘··˘/ |
| Haec mea praecipue victoria digna coronâ. | 11 | ····˘/˘···· |
| Credimus? an lateri juncta puella meo? | 13 | ···········/˘ |
| EURYDICE. Ah me! Thy love too great | 10 | ·········· |
| Hath lost not thee alone! | 6 | ····˘/ |
| I am torn from thee by strong Fate. | 8 | ········ |
| No more I am thine own. | 6 | ······ |
| In vain I stretch these arms. Back, back to Hell | 10 | ·········· |
| I'm drawn, I'm drawn. My Orpheus, fare thee well! | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| ORPHEUS. Who hath laid laws on Love? | 9 | /˘˘······ |
| Will pity not be given | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| For one short look so full thereof? | 8 | ········ |
| Since I am robbed of heaven, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Since all my joy so great is turned to pain, | 10 | ·········· |
| I will go back and plead with Death again! | 10 | ········˘/ |
| TISIPHONE. Nay, seek not back to turn! | 9 | ········· |
| Vain is thy weeping, all thy words are vain. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Eurydice may not complain | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Of aught but thee—albeit her grief is great. | 11 | ····˘/˘···· |
| Vain are thy verses 'gainst the voice of Fate! | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| How vain thy song! For Death is stern! | 8 | ········ |
| Try not the backward path: thy feet refrain! | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| The laws of the abyss are fixed and firm remain. | 12 | ····˘/····˘/ |
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.