The Divine Comedy By Dante: The Vision Of Hell, Or The Inferno: Canto Xix Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGFF HIHJ FFKHHFHFFLHMHFHNOFF HPH QFF HHRHSFTUHVWF MHF XFFYVZ HHQA2H H HVB2RC2HD2XHHHQCFEE2 FHUMF2G2PH2HU HRHFI2HJ2FK2HL2HHHFH M2HFHIAHHAEIAE N2J2MHHFEH FNAHN2H H| Woe to thee Simon Magus woe to you | A |
| His wretched followers who the things of God | B |
| Which should be wedded unto goodness them | C |
| Rapacious as ye are do prostitute | D |
| For gold and silver in adultery | E |
| Now must the trumpet sound for you since yours | F |
| Is the third chasm Upon the following vault | G |
| We now had mounted where the rock impends | F |
| Directly o'er the centre of the foss | F |
| - | |
| Wisdom Supreme how wonderful the art | H |
| Which thou dost manifest in heaven in earth | I |
| And in the evil world how just a meed | H |
| Allotting by thy virtue unto all | J |
| - | |
| I saw the livid stone throughout the sides | F |
| And in its bottom full of apertures | F |
| All equal in their width and circular each | K |
| Nor ample less nor larger they appear'd | H |
| Than in Saint John's fair dome of me belov'd | H |
| Those fram'd to hold the pure baptismal streams | F |
| One of the which I brake some few years past | H |
| To save a whelming infant and be this | F |
| A seal to undeceive whoever doubts | F |
| The motive of my deed From out the mouth | L |
| Of every one emerg'd a sinner's feet | H |
| And of the legs high upward as the calf | M |
| The rest beneath was hid On either foot | H |
| The soles were burning whence the flexile joints | F |
| Glanc'd with such violent motion as had snapt | H |
| Asunder cords or twisted withs As flame | N |
| Feeding on unctuous matter glides along | O |
| The surface scarcely touching where it moves | F |
| So here from heel to point glided the flames | F |
| - | |
| Master say who is he than all the rest | H |
| Glancing in fiercer agony on whom | P |
| A ruddier flame doth prey I thus inquir'd | H |
| - | |
| If thou be willing he replied that I | Q |
| Carry thee down where least the slope bank falls | F |
| He of himself shall tell thee and his wrongs | F |
| - | |
| I then As pleases thee to me is best | H |
| Thou art my lord and know'st that ne'er I quit | H |
| Thy will what silence hides that knowest thou | R |
| Thereat on the fourth pier we came we turn'd | H |
| And on our left descended to the depth | S |
| A narrow strait and perforated close | F |
| Nor from his side my leader set me down | T |
| Till to his orifice he brought whose limb | U |
| Quiv'ring express'd his pang Whoe'er thou art | H |
| Sad spirit thus revers'd and as a stake | V |
| Driv'n in the soil I in these words began | W |
| If thou be able utter forth thy voice | F |
| - | |
| There stood I like the friar that doth shrive | M |
| A wretch for murder doom'd who e'en when fix'd | H |
| Calleth him back whence death awhile delays | F |
| - | |
| He shouted Ha already standest there | X |
| Already standest there O Boniface | F |
| By many a year the writing play'd me false | F |
| So early dost thou surfeit with the wealth | Y |
| For which thou fearedst not in guile to take | V |
| The lovely lady and then mangle her | Z |
| - | |
| I felt as those who piercing not the drift | H |
| Of answer made them stand as if expos'd | H |
| In mockery nor know what to reply | Q |
| When Virgil thus admonish'd Tell him quick | A2 |
| I am not he not he whom thou believ'st | H |
| - | |
| And I as was enjoin'd me straight replied | H |
| - | |
| That heard the spirit all did wrench his feet | H |
| And sighing next in woeful accent spake | V |
| What then of me requirest If to know | B2 |
| So much imports thee who I am that thou | R |
| Hast therefore down the bank descended learn | C2 |
| That in the mighty mantle I was rob'd | H |
| And of a she bear was indeed the son | D2 |
| So eager to advance my whelps that there | X |
| My having in my purse above I stow'd | H |
| And here myself Under my head are dragg'd | H |
| The rest my predecessors in the guilt | H |
| Of simony Stretch'd at their length they lie | Q |
| Along an opening in the rock 'Midst them | C |
| I also low shall fall soon as he comes | F |
| For whom I took thee when so hastily | E |
| I question'd But already longer time | E2 |
| Hath pass'd since my souls kindled and I thus | F |
| Upturn'd have stood than is his doom to stand | H |
| Planted with fiery feet For after him | U |
| One yet of deeds more ugly shall arrive | M |
| From forth the west a shepherd without law | F2 |
| Fated to cover both his form and mine | G2 |
| He a new Jason shall be call'd of whom | P |
| In Maccabees we read and favour such | H2 |
| As to that priest his king indulgent show'd | H |
| Shall be of France's monarch shown to him | U |
| - | |
| I know not if I here too far presum'd | H |
| But in this strain I answer'd Tell me now | R |
| What treasures from St Peter at the first | H |
| Our Lord demanded when he put the keys | F |
| Into his charge Surely he ask'd no more | I2 |
| But Follow me Nor Peter nor the rest | H |
| Or gold or silver of Matthias took | J2 |
| When lots were cast upon the forfeit place | F |
| Of the condemned soul Abide thou then | K2 |
| Thy punishment of right is merited | H |
| And look thou well to that ill gotten coin | L2 |
| Which against Charles thy hardihood inspir'd | H |
| If reverence of the keys restrain'd me not | H |
| Which thou in happier time didst hold I yet | H |
| Severer speech might use Your avarice | F |
| O'ercasts the world with mourning under foot | H |
| Treading the good and raising bad men up | M2 |
| Of shepherds like to you th' Evangelist | H |
| Was ware when her who sits upon the waves | F |
| With kings in filthy whoredom he beheld | H |
| She who with seven heads tower'd at her birth | I |
| And from ten horns her proof of glory drew | A |
| Long as her spouse in virtue took delight | H |
| Of gold and silver ye have made your god | H |
| Diff'ring wherein from the idolater | A |
| But he that worships one a hundred ye | E |
| Ah Constantine to how much ill gave birth | I |
| Not thy conversion but that plenteous dower | A |
| Which the first wealthy Father gain'd from thee | E |
| - | |
| Meanwhile as thus I sung he whether wrath | N2 |
| Or conscience smote him violent upsprang | J2 |
| Spinning on either sole I do believe | M |
| My teacher well was pleas'd with so compos'd | H |
| A lip he listen'd ever to the sound | H |
| Of the true words I utter'd In both arms | F |
| He caught and to his bosom lifting me | E |
| Upward retrac'd the way of his descent | H |
| - | |
| Nor weary of his weight he press'd me close | F |
| Till to the summit of the rock we came | N |
| Our passage from the fourth to the fifth pier | A |
| His cherish'd burden there gently he plac'd | H |
| Upon the rugged rock and steep a path | N2 |
| Not easy for the clamb'ring goat to mount | H |
| - | |
| Thence to my view another vale appear'd | H |
Dante Alighieri
(1)
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About The Divine Comedy By Dante: The Vision Of Hell, Or The Inferno: Canto Xix
The Divine Comedy By Dante: The Vision Of Hell, Or The Inferno: Canto Xix is a poem by Dante Alighieri. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.