Soul's Beauty
Under the arch of Life, where love and death,Terror and mystery, guard her shrine, I sawBeauty enthroned; and though her gaze struck awe,I drew it in as simply as my breath.Hers are the eyes which, over and beneath,The sky and sea bend on thee,--which can draw,By sea or sky or woman, to one law,The allotted bondman of her palm and wreath.
This is that Lady Beauty, in whose praiseThy voice and hand shake still,--long known to theeBy flying hair and fluttering hem,--the beatFollowing her daily of thy heart and feet,How passionately and irretrievably,In what fond flight, how many ways and days!
Words in this poem
- bondman n.
- A man slave, or one bound to service without wages. [Bond,a.orn.+ man.]
- passionately adv.
- In a passionate manner; with strong feeling; ardently.
- irretrievably adv.
- In an irretrievable manner.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Soul's Beauty 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, Soul's Beauty, in The House of Life (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3692, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rossetti-house-of-life/soul-s-beauty.html, id L20993.
Form and metre
Soul's Beauty is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%).
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 ABBACBBC deathA · sawB · aweB · breathA · beneathC · drawB · lawB · wreathC
- 2 A-BB-A praiseA · thee · beatB · feetB · irretrievably · daysA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Under the arch of Life, where love and death, | 10 | ·········· |
| Terror and mystery, guard her shrine, I saw | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Beauty enthroned; and though her gaze struck awe, | 10 | /˘········ |
| I drew it in as simply as my breath. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Hers are the eyes which, over and beneath, | 10 | ·········· |
| The sky and sea bend on thee,--which can draw, | 10 | ·········· |
| By sea or sky or woman, to one law, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The allotted bondman of her palm and wreath. | 11 | ·˘/˘/˘····· |
| This is that Lady Beauty, in whose praise | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Thy voice and hand shake still,--long known to thee | 10 | ·········· |
| By flying hair and fluttering hem,--the beat | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Following her daily of thy heart and feet, | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| How passionately and irretrievably, | 11 | ·/˘˘˘·˘˘/˘˘ |
| In what fond flight, how many ways 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.