Death-In-Love
There came an image in Life's retinueThat had Love's wings and bore his gonfalon:Fair was the web, and nobly wrought thereon,O soul-sequestered face, thy form and hue!Bewildering sounds, such as Spring wakens to,Shook in its folds; and through my heart its powerSped trackless as the immemorable hourWhen birth's dark portal groaned and all was new.
But a veiled woman followed, and she caughtThe banner round its staff, to furl and cling,--Then plucked a feather from the bearer's wing,And held it to his lips that stirred it not,And said to me, 'Behold, there is no breath:I and this Love are one, and I am Death.'
Words in this poem
- gonfalon n.
- The ensign or standard in use by certain princes or states, such as the mediæval republics of Italy, and in more recent times by the pope. [OE. gonfanoun, OF. gonfanon, F. gonfalon, the same word as F. confalon, name of a religious brotherhood, fr. OHG. gundfano war flag; gund war (used in comp., an]
- nobly adv.
- Of noble extraction; as, nobly born or descended.
- thereon adv.
- On that or this. [AS. . See There, and On.]
- bewildering a.
- Causing bewilderment or great perplexity; as, bewildering difficulties.
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
- trackless a.
- Having no track; marked by no footsteps; untrodden; as, a trackless desert.
- immemorable a.
- Not memorable; not worth remembering. Johnson. [L. immemorabilis; pref. im- not + memorabilis memorable: cf. F. immémorable. See Memorable.]
- veiled a.
- Covered by, or as by, a veil; hidden.
- furl v. t.
- To draw up or gather into close compass; to wrap or roll, as a sail, close to the yard, stay, or mast, or, as a flag, close to or around its staff, securing it there by a gasket or line. Totten. [Contr. fr. furdle, fr. fardel bundle: cf. F. ferler to furl, OF. fardeler to pack. See Furdle, Fardel, and cf. Farl.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Death-In-Love is in the public domain. This text is taken from The House of Life, Project Gutenberg ebook #3692; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Death-In-Love, in The House of Life (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3692, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rossetti-house-of-life/death-in-love.html, id L20968.
Form and metre
Death-In-Love is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
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--AABBA retinueA · gonfalon · thereon · hueA · toA · powerB · hourB · newA
- 2 ABBACC caughtA · clingB · wingB · notA · breathC · deathC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| There came an image in Life's retinue | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| That had Love's wings and bore his gonfalon: | 10 | ·········· |
| Fair was the web, and nobly wrought thereon, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| O soul-sequestered face, thy form and hue! | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Bewildering sounds, such as Spring wakens to, | 10 | ˘/˘····/˘· |
| Shook in its folds; and through my heart its power | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Sped trackless as the immemorable hour | 11 | ·/˘··˘/˘˘˘/ |
| When birth's dark portal groaned and all was new. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| But a veiled woman followed, and she caught | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| The banner round its staff, to furl and cling,-- | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Then plucked a feather from the bearer's wing, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And held it to his lips that stirred it not, | 10 | ·········· |
| And said to me, 'Behold, there is no breath: | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| I and this Love are one, and I am Death.' | 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.