Transfigured Life
As growth of form or momentary glanceIn a child's features will recall to mindThe father's with the mother's face combin'd,--Sweet interchange that memories still enhance:And yet, as childhood's years and youth's advance,The gradual mouldings leave one stamp behind,Till in the blended likeness now we findA separate man's or woman's countenance:--
So in the Song, the singer's Joy and Pain,Its very parents, evermore expandTo bid the passion's fullgrown birth remain,By Art's transfiguring essence subtly spann'd;And from that song-cloud shaped as a man's handThere comes the sound as of abundant rain.
Words in this poem
- enhance v. t.
- To raise or lift up; to exalt. Wyclif. [Norm. F. enhauncer, enhaucer, OF. enhaleier, enhaucier; pref. en- (L. in) + haucier to lift, raise up, from an assumed L. altiare, fr. L. altus high; cf. Pr. en]
- evermore adv.
- During eternity; always; forever; for an indefinite period; at all times; -- often used substantively with for.
- subtly adv.
- In a subtle manner; slyly; artfully; cunningly.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Transfigured Life 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, Transfigured Life, in The House of Life (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3692, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rossetti-house-of-life/transfigured-life.html, id L20977.
Form and metre
Transfigured Life 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 glanceA · mindB · combin'dB · enhanceA · advanceA · behindB · findB · countenanceA
- 2 ABABBA painA · expandB · remainA · spann'dB · handB · rainA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| As growth of form or momentary glance | 10 | ·····/˘·˘· |
| In a child's features will recall to mind | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| The father's with the mother's face combin'd,-- | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Sweet interchange that memories still enhance: | 10 | ··˘/·/˘·˘/ |
| And yet, as childhood's years and youth's advance, | 10 | ···/····˘/ |
| The gradual mouldings leave one stamp behind, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Till in the blended likeness now we find | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| A separate man's or woman's countenance:-- | 11 | ·/˘˘··/˘/˘˘ |
| So in the Song, the singer's Joy and Pain, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Its very parents, evermore expand | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| To bid the passion's fullgrown birth remain, | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| By Art's transfiguring essence subtly spann'd; | 11 | ······/˘/˘· |
| And from that song-cloud shaped as a man's hand | 10 | ·········· |
| There comes the sound as of abundant rain. | 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.