Analysis of O Intelligence Moving The Third Heaven
Dante Alighieri 1265 (Florence) – 1321 (Ravenna)
O Intelligences moving the third heaven,
the reasons heed that from my heart come forth,
so new, it seems, that no one else should know.
The heaven set in motion by your worth,
beings in gentleness created even,
keeps my existence in its present woe,
so that to speak of what I feel and know
means to converse most worthily with you:
I beg you, then, to listen to me well.
Of something in me new I now will tell—
how grief and sadness this my soul subdue,
and how a contradiction from afar
speaks through the rays descending from your star.
A thought of loveliness seems now to be
life to my ailing heart: it used to fly
oft to the very presence of your Sire;
and there a glorious Lady sitting high
it also saw, who spoke so pleasingly,
my soul would say “Up there dwells my desire.”
Now one appears, which I in dread admire
a mighty lord that makes it flee away,
so mighty, terror from my heart outflows.
To me he brings a lady very close,
and “Who salvation seeks,” I hear him say,
“let him but gaze into this lady’s eyes,
if he can suffer agony of sighs.”
Such is the contradiction, it can slay
the humble thought that is still telling me
of a fair angel up in heaven crowned.
My soul bemoans its present misery,
saying, “Unhappy me! How fast away
went he, in whom I had some solace found!”
And of my eyes it says, with mournful sound,
“When was it such a lady pierced their sight?
Why did they fail to see me in her guise?
I said, ‘Oh, surely, in this lady’s eyes
the one must dwell who kills my peers with fright.’
To no avail I warned them (Oh, my dread!),
but look at her they did, and I fell dead.”
“Oh, no, not dead, you are bewildered much,
O my poor soul, so pained and grieving so,”
replies a loving spirit, kind and sweet,
“For the fair woman, that you feel and know,
has changed your life so quickly and so much,
you now are trembling in your vile defeat.
Look how humility and mercy meet
in one so wise and gentle in her height:
so call her Lady, as by now you must.
And you will see, if steadfast is your trust,
such lofty miracles, such full delight,
you’ll say, ‘O Love, true lord, do as you please:
here is your humble handmaid on her knees.’”
My song, I do believe that those are few
who can unravel your most hidden sense,
so intricate and mighty is your wit.
Therefore, if by some fate or circumstance
you stray and venture among people who
seem not completely to have fathomed it,
oh, then, I pray, console yourself a bit,
and say, O lovely latest song, to them,
“Notice, at least, how beautiful I am!”
Scheme | XXAXXAABCCBDD EFGFEGXHXXHII HEJEHJJKIIKLL MANAMNNKOOKPP BXQXBQQXX |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11100110 0101111111 1111111111 0101010111 10010001010 1101001101 1111111101 11101111 1111110111 1100111111 1101011101 010010101 1101010111 01111111 1111011111 11010101110 01010010101 1101111100 11111111010 1101110101 0101111101 110101111 1111010101 0101011111 111101111 1111010011 110010111 0101111101 1011010101 1101110100 1001011101 1101111101 0111111101 1111010111 1111111001 111100111 0111111111 1101111111 1110110111 1111110101 1111110101 0101010101 1011011101 1111110011 11110001101 1101000101 0111010001 1101011111 011111111 1101001101 1111111111 111101101 1111011111 1101011101 1100010111 11111110 1101001101 110101111 1111100101 0111010111 1011110011 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,538 |
Words | 499 |
Sentences | 20 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 13, 13, 13, 13, 9 |
Lines Amount | 61 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 385 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 97 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:29 min read
- 101 Views
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"O Intelligence Moving The Third Heaven" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/7454/o-intelligence-moving-the-third-heaven>.
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