An Improvisation
The stars cleave the sky.Yet for us they rest,And their race-course highIs a shining nest!
The hours hurry on.But where is thy flight,Soft pavilionOf motionless night?
Earth gives up her treesTo the holy air;They live in the breeze;They are saints at prayer!
Summer night, come from God,On your beauty, I see,A still wave has flowedOf eternity!
Words in this poem
- pavilion n.
- A temporary movable habitation; a large tent; a marquee; esp., a tent raised on posts. [F. pavillon, fr. L. pavilio a butterfly, also, a tent, because spread out like a butterfly's wings.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
An Improvisation is in the public domain. This text is taken from The poetical works of George MacDonald in two volumes — Volume 2, Project Gutenberg ebook #9984; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: George MacDonald, An Improvisation, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/an-improvisation.html, id L22521.
Form and metre
An Improvisation is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%).
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 ABAB skyA · restB · highA · nestB
- 2 ABAB onA · flightB · pavilionA · nightB
- 3 ABAB treesA · airB · breezeA · prayerB
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The stars cleave the sky. | 5 | ····· |
| Yet for us they rest, | 5 | ····· |
| And their race-course high | 5 | ····· |
| Is a shining nest! | 5 | ··/˘· |
| The hours hurry on. | 5 | ·//˘· |
| But where is thy flight, | 5 | ····· |
| Soft pavilion | 4 | ·˘/˘ |
| Of motionless night? | 5 | ·/˘˘· |
| Earth gives up her trees | 5 | ····· |
| To the holy air; | 5 | ··/˘· |
| They live in the breeze; | 5 | ····· |
| They are saints at prayer! | 5 | ····· |
| Summer night, come from God, | 6 | /˘···· |
| On your beauty, I see, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| A still wave has flowed | 5 | ····· |
| Of eternity! | 5 | ·˘/˘˘ |
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.