A Chord of Colour
My Lady clad herself in grey,That caught and clung about her throat;Then all the long grey winter dayOn me a living splendour smote;And why grey palmers holy are,And why grey minsters great in story,And grey skies ring the morning star,And grey hairs are a crown of glory.
My Lady clad herself in green,Like meadows where the wind-waves pass;Then round my spirit spread, I ween,A splendour of forgotten grass.Then all that dropped of stem or sod,Hoarded as emeralds might be,I bowed to every bush, and trodAmid the live grass fearfully.
My Lady clad herself in blue,Then on me, like the seer long gone,The likeness of a sapphire grew,The throne of him that sat thereon.Then knew I why the FashionerSplashed reckless blue on sky and sea;And ere 'twas good enough for her,He tried it on Eternity.
Beneath the gnarled old Knowledge-treeSat, like an owl, the evil sage:'The World's a bubble,' solemnlyHe read, and turned a second page.'A bubble, then, old crow,' I cried,'God keep you in your weary wit!'A bubble--have you ever spied'The colours I have seen on it?'
Words in this poem
- clad v.
- To clothe. Holland.
- clung a.
- Wasted away; shrunken. [Prop. p. p. fr. OE. clingen to wither. See Cling, v. i.]
- splendour n.
- Great brightness; brilliant luster; brilliancy; as, the splendor ot the sun. B. Jonson. [L. fr. splendere to shine: cf. F. splendeur.]
- ween v. i.
- To think; to imagine; to fancy. [OE. wenen, AS. w, fr. w hope, expectation, opinion; akin to D. waan, OFries. w, OS. & OHG. wan, G. wahn delusion, Icel. van hope, expectation, Goth. w, and D. w]
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- fearfully adv.
- In a fearful manner.
- thereon adv.
- On that or this. [AS. . See There, and On.]
- fashioner n.
- One who fashions, forms, ar gives shape to anything.
- gnarled a.
- Knotty; full of knots or gnarls; twisted; crossgrained.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Chord of Colour is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Wild Knight and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #12037; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: G. K. Chesterton, A Chord of Colour, in The Wild Knight and Other Poems (1900), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12037, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/chesterton-wild-knight/a-chord-of-colour.html, id L17119.
Form and metre
A Chord of Colour is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 19% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABABCDCD greyA · throatB · dayA · smoteB · areC · storyD · starC · gloryD
- 2 ABABC-C- greenA · passB · weenA · grassB · sodC · be · trodC · fearfully
- 3 ABAB---- blueA · goneB · grewA · thereonB · fashioner · sea · her · eternity
- 4 -A-ABCBC tree · sageA · solemnly · pageA · criedB · witC · spiedB · itC
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| My Lady clad herself in grey, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| That caught and clung about her throat; | 8 | ········ |
| Then all the long grey winter day | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| On me a living splendour smote; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And why grey palmers holy are, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And why grey minsters great in story, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| And grey skies ring the morning star, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And grey hairs are a crown of glory. | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| My Lady clad herself in green, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| Like meadows where the wind-waves pass; | 8 | ·/······ |
| Then round my spirit spread, I ween, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A splendour of forgotten grass. | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Then all that dropped of stem or sod, | 9 | ····˘···· |
| Hoarded as emeralds might be, | 7 | /˘·/˘·· |
| I bowed to every bush, and trod | 10 | ··˘·/˘˘··· |
| Amid the live grass fearfully. | 8 | ˘/···/˘˘ |
| My Lady clad herself in blue, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| Then on me, like the seer long gone, | 8 | ········ |
| The likeness of a sapphire grew, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘˘· |
| The throne of him that sat thereon. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Then knew I why the Fashioner | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Splashed reckless blue on sky and sea; | 9 | ·˘/˘····· |
| And ere 'twas good enough for her, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| He tried it on Eternity. | 8 | ····˘/˘˘ |
| Beneath the gnarled old Knowledge-tree | 9 | ····˘·/˘· |
| Sat, like an owl, the evil sage: | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| 'The World's a bubble,' solemnly | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| He read, and turned a second page. | 9 | ····˘·/˘· |
| 'A bubble, then, old crow,' I cried, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| 'God keep you in your weary wit! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| 'A bubble--have you ever spied | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| 'The colours I have seen on it?' | 8 | ·/˘····· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.