The Sun's Shame I
Beholding youth and hope in mockery caughtFrom life; and mocking pulses that remainWhen the soul's death of bodily death is fain;Honour unknown, and honour known unsought;And penury's sedulous self-torturing thoughtOn gold, whose master therewith buys his bane;And longed-for woman longing all in vainFor lonely man with love's desire distraught;And wealth, and strength, and power, and pleasantness,Given unto bodies of whose souls men say,None poor and weak, slavish and foul, as they:--Beholding these things, I behold no lessThe blushing morn and blushing eve confessThe shame that loads the intolerable day.
As some true chief of men, bowed down with stressOf life's disastrous eld, on blossoming youthMay gaze, and murmur with self-pity and ruth,'Might I thy fruitless treasure but possess,Such blessing of mine all coming years should bless;'--Then sends one sigh forth to the unknown goal,And bitterly feels breathe against his soulThe hour swift-winged of nearer nothingness:--
Even so the World's grey Soul to the green WorldPerchance one hour must cry: 'Woe's me, for whomInveteracy of ill portends the doom,--Whose heart's old fire in shadow of shame is furl'd:While thou even as of yore art journeying,All soulless now, yet merry with the Spring!'
Words in this poem 16
- beholding a.
- Obliged; beholden.
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- 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.]
- sedulous a.
- Diligent in application or pursuit; constant, steady, and persevering in business, or in endeavors to effect an object; steadily industrious; assiduous; as, the sedulous bee. [L. sedulus, perhaps from sedere to sit, and so akin to E. sit.]
- therewith adv.
- With that or this.
- bane v. t.
- To be the bane of; to ruin. Fuller.
- distraught p. p.
- Torn asunder; separated. [OE. distract, distrauht. See Distract, a.]
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- pleasantness n.
- The state or quality of being pleasant.
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- disastrous a.
- Full of unpropitious stellar influences; unpropitious; ill-boding. [Cf. F. désastreux. See Disaster.]
- ruth n.
- Sorrow for the misery of another; pity; tenderness. [From Rue, v.: cf. Icel. hryggedh, hrygedh.]
- fruitless a.
- Lacking, or not bearing, fruit; barren; destitute of offspring; as, a fruitless tree or shrub; a fruitless marriage.
- bitterly adv.
- In a bitter manner.
- yore adv.
- In time long past; in old time; long since. [OE. , yare, , AS. geára;akin to geár a year, E. year. Year.]
- soulless a.
- Being without a soul, or without greatness or nobleness of mind; mean; spiritless.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Sun's Shame I 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 Sun's Shame I, in The House of Life (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3692, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rossetti-house-of-life/the-sun-s-shame-i.html, id L21008.
Form and metre
The Sun's Shame I is 28 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 79%).
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 ABABCDCDEFEFGG caughtA · remainB · fainA · unsoughtB · thoughtC · baneD · vainC · distraughtD · pleasantnessE · sayF · theyE · lessF · confessG · dayG
- 2 ABBAACCA stressA · youthB · ruthB · possessA · blessA · goalC · soulC · nothingnessA
- 3 ABBACC worldA · whomB · doomB · furl'dA · journeyingC · springC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Beholding youth and hope in mockery caught | 10 | ˘/˘····/˘· |
| From life; and mocking pulses that remain | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| When the soul's death of bodily death is fain; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Honour unknown, and honour known unsought; | 10 | /˘˘/·/˘··· |
| And penury's sedulous self-torturing thought | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘·/˘· |
| On gold, whose master therewith buys his bane; | 10 | ···/˘˘/··· |
| And longed-for woman longing all in vain | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| For lonely man with love's desire distraught; | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘/ |
| And wealth, and strength, and power, and pleasantness, | 11 | ·····/˘·/˘˘ |
| Given unto bodies of whose souls men say, | 10 | /··/˘····· |
| None poor and weak, slavish and foul, as they:-- | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| Beholding these things, I behold no less | 10 | ˘/˘···˘/·· |
| The blushing morn and blushing eve confess | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| The shame that loads the intolerable day. | 10 | ·····˘/˘˘· |
| As some true chief of men, bowed down with stress | 10 | ·········· |
| Of life's disastrous eld, on blossoming youth | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| May gaze, and murmur with self-pity and ruth, | 11 | ···/˘··/˘·· |
| 'Might I thy fruitless treasure but possess, | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Such blessing of mine all coming years should bless;'-- | 11 | ·/˘···/˘··· |
| Then sends one sigh forth to the unknown goal, | 10 | ·······˘/· |
| And bitterly feels breathe against his soul | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| The hour swift-winged of nearer nothingness:-- | 11 | ·/˘···/˘/˘˘ |
| Even so the World's grey Soul to the green World | 10 | /········· |
| Perchance one hour must cry: 'Woe's me, for whom | 10 | ˘/·/······ |
| Inveteracy of ill portends the doom,-- | 11 | ˘/˘˘˘··˘/·· |
| Whose heart's old fire in shadow of shame is furl'd: | 11 | ···/·/····· |
| While thou even as of yore art journeying, | 11 | ··/˘····/˘˘ |
| All soulless now, yet merry with the Spring!' | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
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