Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, FOR AN ALLEGORICAL DANCE OF WOMEN (BY ANDREA MANTEGNA), by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI


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FOR AN ALLEGORICAL DANCE OF WOMEN (BY ANDREA MANTEGNA), by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Scarcely, I think; yet it indeed may be
Last Line: With all, though the mind's labour run to nought.
Alternate Author Name(s): Rossetti, Gabriel Charles Dante
Variant Title(s): Sonnets For Pictures: 3. A Dance Of Nymphs, By Andrea Mantegna
Subject(s): Dancing & Dancers; Mantegna, Andrea (1431-1506); Paintings & Painters


(In the Louvre)

SCARCELY, I think; yet it indeed may be
The meaning reached him, when this music rang
Clear through his frame, a sweet possessive pang,
And he beheld these rocks and that ridged sea.
But I believe that, leaning tow'rds them, he
Just felt their hair carried across his face
As each girl passed him; nor gave ear to trace
How many feet; nor bent assuredly
His eyes from the blind fixedness of thought
To know the dancers. It is bitter glad
Even unto tears. Its meaning filleth it,
A secret of the wells of Life: to wit:--
The heart's each pulse shall keep the sense it had
With all, though the mind's labour run to nought.





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