'Retro Me, Sathana!'
Get thee behind me. Even as, heavy-curled,Stooping against the wind, a charioteerIs snatched from out his chariot by the hair,So shall Time be; and as the void car, hurledAbroad by reinless steeds, even so the world:Yea, even as chariot-dust upon the air,It shall be sought and not found anywhere.Get thee behind me, Satan. Oft unfurled,Thy perilous wings can beat and break like lathMuch mightiness of men to win thee praise.Leave these weak feet to tread in narrow ways.Thou still, upon the broad vine-sheltered path,Mayst wait the turning of the phials of wrathFor certain years, for certain months and days.
Words in this poem
- charioteer n.
- One who drives a chariot.
- 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,]
- reinless a.
- Not having, or not governed by, reins; hence, not checked or restrained.
- mightiness n.
- The quality of being mighty; possession of might; power; greatness; high dignity.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
'Retro Me, Sathana!' 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, 'Retro Me, Sathana!', in The House of Life (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3692, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rossetti-house-of-life/retro-me-sathana.html, id L21006.
Form and metre
'Retro Me, Sathana!' 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 85%).
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 curledA · charioteerB · hairA · hurledB · worldC · airD · anywhereC · unfurledD · lathE · praiseF · waysE · pathF · wrathG · daysG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Get thee behind me. Even as, heavy-curled, | 10 | ·····/·/˘· |
| Stooping against the wind, a charioteer | 10 | /˘········ |
| Is snatched from out his chariot by the hair, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| So shall Time be; and as the void car, hurled | 10 | ·········· |
| Abroad by reinless steeds, even so the world: | 10 | ˘/·/˘·/··· |
| Yea, even as chariot-dust upon the air, | 10 | ·/·/˘····· |
| It shall be sought and not found anywhere. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Get thee behind me, Satan. Oft unfurled, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Thy perilous wings can beat and break like lath | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Much mightiness of men to win thee praise. | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| Leave these weak feet to tread in narrow ways. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Thou still, upon the broad vine-sheltered path, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Mayst wait the turning of the phials of wrath | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| For certain years, for certain months and days. | 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.