The Lamp's Shrine
Sometimes I fain would find in thee some fault,That I might love thee still in spite of it:Yet how should our Lord Love curtail one whitThy perfect praise whom most he would exalt?Alas! he can but make my heart's low vaultEven in men's sight unworthier, being litBy thee, who thereby show'st more exquisiteLike fiery chrysoprase in deep basalt.
Yet will I nowise shrink; but at Love's shrineMyself within the beams his brow doth dartWill set the flashing jewel of thy heartIn that dull chamber where it deigns to shine:For lo! in honour of thine excellenciesMy heart takes pride to show how poor it is.
Words in this poem
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- curtail v. t.
- To cut off the end or tail, or any part, of; to shorten; to abridge; to diminish; to reduce. [See Curtal.]
- whit n.
- The smallest part or particle imaginable; a bit; a jot; an iota; -- generally used in an adverbial phrase in a negative sentence. [OE. wight, wiht, AS. wiht a creature, a thing. See Wight, and cf. Aught, Naught.]
- chrysoprase n.
- An apple-green variety of chalcedony, colored by nickel. It has a dull flinty luster, and is sometimes used in jewelry.
- nowise adv.
- Not in any manner or degree; in no way; noways. [For in no wise. See Wise, n.]
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Lamp's Shrine 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, The Lamp's Shrine, in The House of Life (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3692, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rossetti-house-of-life/the-lamp-s-shrine.html, id L20955.
Form and metre
The Lamp's Shrine is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 81%).
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 ABBAABBA faultA · itB · whitB · exaltA · vaultA · litB · exquisiteB · basaltA
- 2 ABBACC shrineA · dartB · heartB · shineA · excellenciesC · isC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Sometimes I fain would find in thee some fault, | 10 | ˘/········ |
| That I might love thee still in spite of it: | 10 | ·········· |
| Yet how should our Lord Love curtail one whit | 10 | ···/··˘/·· |
| Thy perfect praise whom most he would exalt? | 10 | ·/······˘/ |
| Alas! he can but make my heart's low vault | 10 | ˘/········ |
| Even in men's sight unworthier, being lit | 10 | /······/˘· |
| By thee, who thereby show'st more exquisite | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Like fiery chrysoprase in deep basalt. | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘··˘/ |
| Yet will I nowise shrink; but at Love's shrine | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Myself within the beams his brow doth dart | 10 | ·/········ |
| Will set the flashing jewel of thy heart | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| In that dull chamber where it deigns to shine: | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| For lo! in honour of thine excellencies | 10 | ···/˘··//˘ |
| My heart takes pride to show how poor it is. | 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.