The Tomb of Ilaria Giunigi
ILARIA, thou that wert so fair and dearThat death would fain disown thee, grief made wiseWith prophecy thy husband's widowed eyes,And bade him call the master's art to rearThy perfect image on the sculptured bier,With dreaming lids, hands laid in peaceful guiseBeneath the breast that seems to fall and rise,And lips that at love's call should answer "Here!"
First-born of the Renascence, when thy soulCast the sweet robing of the flesh aside,Into these lovelier marble limbs it stole,Regenerate in art's sunrise clear and wide,As saints who, having kept faith's raiment whole,Change it above for garments glorified.
Words in this poem
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- bade
- A form of the pat tense of Bid.
- bier n.
- A handbarrow or portable frame on which a corpse is placed or borne to the grave. [OE. bæe, beere, AS. b, b; akin to D. baar, OHG. bara, G. bahre, Icel barar, Dbaare, L. feretrum, Gr. , from the same bear to produce. See 1st Bear, and cf. Barr]
- renascence n.
- The state of being renascent. [See Renascent, and cf. Renaissance.]
- robing n.
- The act of putting on a robe. Robing room, a room where official robes are put on, as by judges, etc.
- stole n.
- A long, loose garment reaching to the feet. [AS. stole, L. stola, Gr. stall. See Stall.]
- regenerate v. t.
- To generate or produce anew; to reproduce; to give new life, strength, or vigor to.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Tomb of Ilaria Giunigi is in the public domain. This text is taken from Artemis to Actaeon, and Other Verses, Project Gutenberg ebook #4549; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edith Wharton, The Tomb of Ilaria Giunigi, in Artemis to Actaeon, and Other Verse (1909), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #4549, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wharton-artemis/the-tomb-of-ilaria-giunigi.html, id L22235.
Form and metre
The Tomb of Ilaria Giunigi is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
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 dearA · wiseB · eyesB · rearA · bierA · guiseB · riseB · hereA
- 2 ABABAB soulA · asideB · stoleA · wideB · wholeA · glorifiedB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| ILARIA, thou that wert so fair and dear | 10 | ·········· |
| That death would fain disown thee, grief made wise | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| With prophecy thy husband's widowed eyes, | 10 | ·/˘˘·/˘/˘· |
| And bade him call the master's art to rear | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Thy perfect image on the sculptured bier, | 10 | ·/·/˘··/˘· |
| With dreaming lids, hands laid in peaceful guise | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Beneath the breast that seems to fall and rise, | 10 | ·········· |
| And lips that at love's call should answer "Here!" | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| First-born of the Renascence, when thy soul | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Cast the sweet robing of the flesh aside, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Into these lovelier marble limbs it stole, | 11 | ······/˘··· |
| Regenerate in art's sunrise clear and wide, | 11 | ˘/˘···/···· |
| As saints who, having kept faith's raiment whole, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Change it above for garments glorified. | 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.