Classic and Contemporary Poetry
DIVINA COMMEDIA: PURGATORIO: CANTO 28: MATILDA GATHERING FLOWERS, by DANTE ALIGHIERI Poet's Biography First Line: And earnest to explore within - around Last Line: She lost the spring, and ceres her, more dear.' Alternate Author Name(s): Dante; Alighieri, Dante | ||||||||
AND earnest to explore within -- around -- That divine wood whose thick green living woof Tempered the young day to the sight, I wound Up the green slope, beneath the forest's roof, With slow soft steps leaving the mountain's steep; And sought those inmost labyrinths' motionproof Against the air, that, in that stillness deep And solemn, struck upon my forehead bare The slow, soft stroke of a continuous ... In which the leaves tremblingly were All bent towards that part where earliest The sacred hill obscures the morning air. Yet were they not so shaken from the rest, But that the birds, perched on the utmost spray, Incessantly renewing their blithe quest, With perfect joy received the early day, Singing within the glancing leaves, whose sound Kept a low burden to their roundelay, Such as from bough to bough gathers around The pine forest on bleak Chiassi's shore, When AEolus Sirocco has unbound. My slow steps had already borne me o'er Such space within the antique wood that I Perceived not where I entered any more, When, lo! a stream whose little waves went by, Bending towards the left through grass that grew Upon its bank, impeded suddenly My going on. Water of purest hue On earth would appear turbid and impure Compared with this, whose unconcealing dew, Dark, dark, yet clear, moved under the obscure Eternal shades, whose interwoven looms No ray of moon or sunshine would endure. I moved not with my feet, but mid the glooms Pierced with my charmed eye, contemplating The mighty multitude of fresh May blooms That starred that night; when, even as a thing That suddenly, for blank astonishment, Charms every sense, and makes all thought take wing, -- A solitary woman! and she went Singing, and gathering flower after flower, With which her way was painted and besprent. 'Bright lady, who, if looks had ever power To bear true witness of the heart within, Dost bask under the beams of love, come lower 'Towards this bank. I prithee let me win This much of thee, to come, that I may hear Thy song. Like Proserpine, in Enna's glen, 'Thou seemest to my fancy, singing here And gathering flowers, as that fair maiden when She lost the spring, and Ceres her, more dear.' | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SONNET TO GUIDO CAVALCANTI by DANTE ALIGHIERI BALLATA: 9. HE WILL GAZE UPON BEATRICE by DANTE ALIGHIERI CANZONE: 17. HE BESEECHES DEATH FOR THE LIFE OF BEATRICE by DANTE ALIGHIERI DIVINA COMMEDIA: INFERNO. CANTO 3 by DANTE ALIGHIERI DIVINA COMMEDIA: INFERNO. UGOLINO by DANTE ALIGHIERI DIVINA COMMEDIA: PARADISO. CANTO 14. THE TRIUMPH OF CHRIST by DANTE ALIGHIERI DIVINA COMMEDIA: PARADISO. CANTO 31. THE SAINTS IN GLORY by DANTE ALIGHIERI DIVINA COMMEDIA: PARADISO. CANTO 7. SIN AND REDEMPTION by DANTE ALIGHIERI DIVINA COMMEDIA: PURGATORIO. BEATRICE by DANTE ALIGHIERI DIVINA COMMEDIA: PURGATORIO. CANTO 11. PRAYER OF PENITENTS by DANTE ALIGHIERI DIVINA COMMEDIA: PURGATORIO. CANTO 16. MAN'S FREE WILL by DANTE ALIGHIERI DIVINA COMMEDIA: PURGATORIO. CANTO 27. FIRE OF PURIFICATION by DANTE ALIGHIERI |
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