Analysis of Proserpina

Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1828 (London) – 1882 (Birchington-on-Sea)



LUNGI è la luce che in sù questo muro
Rifrange appena, un breve istante scorta
Del rio palazzo alla soprana porta.
Lungi quei fiori d'Enna, O lido oscuro,
Dal frutto tuo fatal che omai m'è duro.
Lungi quel cielo dal tartareo manto
Che quì mi cuopre: e lungì ahi lungi ahi quanto
Le notti che saran dai dì che furo.
Lungi da me mi sento; e ognor sognando
Cerco e ricerco, e resto ascoltatrice;
E qualche cuore a qualche anima dice,
(Di cui mi giunge il suon da quando in quando.
Continuamente insieme sospirando,)—
“Oimè per te, Proserpina infelice!”

AFAR away the light that brings cold cheer
Unto this wall,—one instant and no more
Admitted at my distant palace-door.
Afar the flowers of Enna from this drear
Dire fruit, which, tasted once, must thrall me here.
Afar those skies from this Tartarean grey
That chills me: and afar, how far away,
The nights that shall be from the days that were.
Afar from mine own self I seem, and wing
Strange ways in thought, and listen for a sign:
And still some heart unto some soul doth pine,
(Whose sounds mine inner sense is fain to bring,
Continually together murmuring,)—
“Woe's me for thee, unhappy Proserpine!”


Scheme ABBAABBABCCBBC XDDAXEEXFGGFFG
Poetic Form
Metre 111101110 111111 11001010110 1101011101 111101111 111111 1111111111 011011111 11111111 1111101 1110111 11111101101 111 11101001 0101011111 1011110011 0101110101 0101011111 1111011111 01111111 1110011101 0111110110 0111111101 1101010101 0111101111 1111011111 01000010100 11110101
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 1,156
Words 213
Sentences 10
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 14, 14
Lines Amount 28
Letters per line (avg) 32
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 447
Words per stanza (avg) 103
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:04 min read
97

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Dante Gabriel Rossetti was an English poet, illustrator, painter and translator. more…

All Dante Gabriel Rossetti poems | Dante Gabriel Rossetti Books

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