Vain Virtues
What is the sorriest thing that enters Hell?None of the sins,--but this and that fair deedWhich a soul's sin at length could supersede.These yet are virgins, whom death's timely knellMight once have sainted; whom the fiends compelTogether now, in snake-bound shuddering sheavesOf anguish, while the scorching bridegroom leavesTheir refuse maidenhood abominable.
Night sucks them down, the garbage of the pit,Whose names, half entered in the book of Life,Were God's desire at noon. And as their hairAnd eyes sink last, the Torturer deigns no whitTo gaze, but, yearning, waits his worthier wife,The Sin still blithe on earth that sent them there.
Words in this poem
- supersede v. t.
- To come, or be placed, in the room of; to replace. [L. supersedere, supersessum, to sit above, be superior to, forbear, omit; super above + sedere to sit: cf. F. superséder. See Sit, and cf. Surcease.]
- sainted a.
- Consecrated; sacred; holy; pious.
- scorching a.
- Burning; parching or shriveling with heat.
- bridegroom n.
- A man newly married, or just about to be married. [OE. bridegome, brudgume, AS. br (akin to OS. br, D. bruidegom, bruigom, OHG. pr, MHG. briutegome, G. bräutigam); AS. br bride + guma man, akin to Goth. guma, Ic]
- garbage n.
- Offal, as the bowels of an animal or fish; refuse animal or vegetable matter from a kitchen; hence, anything worthless, disgusting, or loathsome. Grainger. [OE. also garbash, perh. orig., that which is purged or cleansed away; cf. OF. garber to make fine, neat, OHG. garawan to make ready, prepare, akin to E. garb dr]
- torturer n.
- One who tortures; a tormentor.
- 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.]
- blithe a.
- Gay; merry; sprightly; joyous; glad; cheerful; as, a blithe spirit. [AS. bli blithe, kind; akin to Goth. blei kind, Icel. bli mild, gentle, Dan. & Sw. blid gentle, D. blijd blithe, OHG. blidi kind, blithe.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Vain Virtues 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, Vain Virtues, in The House of Life (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3692, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rossetti-house-of-life/vain-virtues.html, id L21001.
Form and metre
Vain Virtues is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%).
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 ABBAACCA hellA · deedB · supersedeB · knellA · compelA · sheavesC · leavesC · abominableA
- 2 ABCABC pitA · lifeB · hairC · whitA · wifeB · thereC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| What is the sorriest thing that enters Hell? | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| None of the sins,--but this and that fair deed | 10 | ·········· |
| Which a soul's sin at length could supersede. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| These yet are virgins, whom death's timely knell | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Might once have sainted; whom the fiends compel | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Together now, in snake-bound shuddering sheaves | 10 | ˘/˘····/˘· |
| Of anguish, while the scorching bridegroom leaves | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/·· |
| Their refuse maidenhood abominable. | 11 | ·/·/˘˘˘/˘˘˘ |
| Night sucks them down, the garbage of the pit, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Whose names, half entered in the book of Life, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Were God's desire at noon. And as their hair | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| And eyes sink last, the Torturer deigns no whit | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| To gaze, but, yearning, waits his worthier wife, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| The Sin still blithe on earth that sent them there. | 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.