Analysis of I swear to you, Love, by your arrows

Gaspara Stampa 1523 (Padua) – 1554 (Venice)



I swear to you, Love, by your arrows,
And by your powerful holy flame,
I care not if by one I’m maimed,
My heart burned, wasted by the other:
However far through times past or coming,
There never was nor will be woman
Whomever of them you wish to name,
Could know such sharpness, such devouring:

For there’s a virtue born from suffering,
That dims and conquers the sense of pain,
So that it’s barely felt, seems scarcely hurting.
No! This, that torments soul and body again,
This is the real fear presaging my dying:
What if my fire be only straw and flame?


Scheme XAXXBXAB BXBXBA
Poetic Form
Metre 111111110 011100101 11111111 111101010 101111110 110111110 010111111 1111010100 1101011100 110100111 11110111010 1111101001 11011100110 11110110101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 558
Words 106
Sentences 4
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 8, 6
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 31
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 216
Words per stanza (avg) 52
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 28, 2023

31 sec read
89

Gaspara Stampa

Gaspara Stampa was an Italian poet. more…

All Gaspara Stampa poems | Gaspara Stampa Books

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    Because I could not stop for _______ - He kindly stopped for me
    A Time
    B Hope
    C Death
    D Love