Approaches
When thou turn'st away from ill,Christ is this side of thy hill.
When thou turnest toward good,Christ is walking in thy wood.
When thy heart says, "Father, pardon!"Then the Lord is in thy garden.
When stern Duty wakes to watch,Then his hand is on the latch.
But when Hope thy song doth rouse,Then the Lord is in the house.
When to love is all thy wit,Christ doth at thy table sit.
When God's will is thy heart's pole,Then is Christ thy very soul.
Words in this poem
- latch v. t.
- To smear; to anoint. [Cf. F. lécher to lick (of German origin). Cf. Lick.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Approaches 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, Approaches, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/approaches.html, id L22302.
Form and metre
Approaches is 14 lines in 7 stanzas of 2 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 86% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 AA illA · hillA
- 2 AA goodA · woodA
- 3 AA pardonA · gardenA
- 5 AA rouseA · houseA
- 6 AA witA · sitA
- 7 AA poleA · soulA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When thou turn'st away from ill, | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| Christ is this side of thy hill. | 7 | ······· |
| When thou turnest toward good, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Christ is walking in thy wood. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| When thy heart says, "Father, pardon!" | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Then the Lord is in thy garden. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| When stern Duty wakes to watch, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Then his hand is on the latch. | 7 | ······· |
| But when Hope thy song doth rouse, | 7 | ······· |
| Then the Lord is in the house. | 7 | ······· |
| When to love is all thy wit, | 7 | ······· |
| Christ doth at thy table sit. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| When God's will is thy heart's pole, | 7 | ······· |
| Then is Christ thy very soul. | 7 | ····/˘· |
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.