The Portrait
O Lord of all compassionate control,O Love! let this my lady's picture glowUnder my hand to praise her name, and showEven of her inner self the perfect whole:That he who seeks her beauty's furthest goal,Beyond the light that the sweet glances throwAnd refluent wave of the sweet smile, may knowThe very sky and sea-line of her soul.
Lo! it is done. Above the long lithe throatThe mouth's mould testifies of voice and kiss,The shadowed eyes remember and foresee.Her face is made her shrine. Let all men noteThat in all years (O Love, thy gift is this!)They that would look on her must come to me.
Words in this poem
- refluent a.
- Flowing back; returning; ebbing. [L. refluens, p. pr. of refluere to flow back; pref. re- re- + fluere to flow. See Flurent.]
- lithe v. i.
- To listen or listen to; to hearken to. P. Plowman. [Icel Listen.]
- mould n.
- Crumbling, soft, friable earth; esp., earth containing the remains or constituents of organic matter, and suited to the growth of plants; soil. [OE. molde, AS. molde; akin to D. mul, G. mull, mulm, OHG. molt, molta, Icel. mold, Dan. muld, Sw. mull, Goth. mulda, and E. meal flour. See Meal, and cf. Mole a]
- foresee v. i.
- To have or exercise foresight.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Portrait 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 Portrait, in The House of Life (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3692, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rossetti-house-of-life/the-portrait.html, id L20930.
Form and metre
The Portrait is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
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 controlA · glowB · showB · wholeA · goalA · throwB · knowB · soulA
- 2 ABCABC throatA · kissB · foreseeC · noteA · thisB · meC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| O Lord of all compassionate control, | 10 | ····˘/˘˘˘/ |
| O Love! let this my lady's picture glow | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Under my hand to praise her name, and show | 10 | ·········· |
| Even of her inner self the perfect whole: | 10 | /··/˘··/·· |
| That he who seeks her beauty's furthest goal, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Beyond the light that the sweet glances throw | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And refluent wave of the sweet smile, may know | 11 | ·/˘˘······· |
| The very sky and sea-line of her soul. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Lo! it is done. Above the long lithe throat | 10 | ·········· |
| The mouth's mould testifies of voice and kiss, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The shadowed eyes remember and foresee. | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘·˘/ |
| Her face is made her shrine. Let all men note | 10 | ·········· |
| That in all years (O Love, thy gift is this!) | 10 | ·········· |
| They that would look on her must come to me. | 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.