Known in Vain
As two whose love, first foolish, widening scope,Knows suddenly, with music high and soft,The Holy of holies; who because they scoff'dAre now amazed with shame, nor dare to copeWith the whole truth aloud, lest heaven should ope;Yet, at their meetings, laugh not as theyIn speech; nor speak, at length; but sitting oftTogether, within hopeless sight of hopeFor hours are silent:--So it happenethWhen Work and Will awake too late, to gazeAfter their life sailed by, and hold their breath.Ah! who shall dare to search through what sad mazeThenceforth their incommunicable waysFollow the desultory feet of Death?
Words in this poem
- aloud adv.
- With a loud voice, or great noise; loudly; audibly. [Pref. a- + loud.]
- 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,]
- maze n.
- A wild fancy; a confused notion. [OE. mase; cf. OE. masen to confuse, puzzle, Norweg. masast to fall into a slumber, masa to be continually busy, prate, chatter, Icel. masa to chatter, dial. Sw.]
- thenceforth adv.
- From that time; thereafter.
- incommunicable a.
- Not communicable; incapable of being communicated, shared, told, or imparted, to others. [L. incommunicabilis: cf. F. incommunicable. See In- not, and Communicable.]
- desultory a.
- Leaping or skipping about. [L. desultorius, fr. desultor a leaper, fr. desilire, desultum, to leap down; de + salire to leap. See Saltation.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Known in Vain 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, Known in Vain, in The House of Life (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3692, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rossetti-house-of-life/known-in-vain.html, id L20982.
Form and metre
Known in Vain is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCDCDEFEFGG, the pattern of the English sonnet. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
See other English sonnets, 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 ABABCDCDEFEFGG scopeA · softB · scoff'dA · copeB · opeC · theyD · oftC · hopeD · happenethE · gazeF · breathE · mazeF · waysG · deathG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| As two whose love, first foolish, widening scope, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Knows suddenly, with music high and soft, | 10 | ·/˘˘·/˘··· |
| The Holy of holies; who because they scoff'd | 11 | ·/˘·/˘····· |
| Are now amazed with shame, nor dare to cope | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| With the whole truth aloud, lest heaven should ope; | 10 | ····˘/·/·· |
| Yet, at their meetings, laugh not as they | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| In speech; nor speak, at length; but sitting oft | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Together, within hopeless sight of hope | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘··· |
| For hours are silent:--So it happeneth | 11 | ·/˘·/˘··/˘˘ |
| When Work and Will awake too late, to gaze | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| After their life sailed by, and hold their breath. | 10 | ·········· |
| Ah! who shall dare to search through what sad maze | 10 | ·········· |
| Thenceforth their incommunicable ways | 10 | ·/········ |
| Follow the desultory feet of 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.