Consider the Ravens
Lord, according to thy words,I have considered thy birds;And I find their life good,And better the better understood:Sowing neither corn nor wheatThey have all that they can eat;Reaping no more than they sowThey have more than they could stow;Having neither barn nor store,Hungry again, they eat more.
Considering, I see too that theyHave a busy life, and plenty of play;In the earth they dig their bills deepAnd work well though they do not heap;Then to play in the air they are not loath,And their nests between are better than both.But this is when there blow no storms,When berries are plenty in winter, and worms,When feathers are rife, with oil enough--To keep the cold out and send the rain off;If there come, indeed, a long hard frostThen it looks as thy birds were lost.
But I consider further, and findA hungry bird has a free mind;He is hungry to-day, not to-morrow,Steals no comfort, no grief doth borrow;This moment is his, thy will hath said it,The next is nothing till thou hast made it.
Thy bird has pain, but has no fearWhich is the worst of any gear;When cold and hunger and harm betide him,He does not take them and stuff inside him;Content with the day's ill he has got,He waits just, nor haggles with his lot:Neither jumbles God's willWith driblets from his own still.
But next I see, in my endeavour,Thy birds here do not live for ever;That cold or hunger, sickness or ageFinishes their earthly stage;The rooks drop in cold nights,Leaving all their wrongs and rights;Birds lie here and birds lie thereWith their feathers all astare;And in thy own sermon, thouThat the sparrow falls dost allow.
It shall not cause me any alarm,For neither so comes the bird to harmSeeing our father, thou hast said,Is by the sparrow's dying bed;Therefore it is a blessed place,And the sparrow in high grace.
It cometh therefore to this, Lord:I have considered thy word,And henceforth will be thy bird.
Words in this poem
- loath a.
- Hateful; odious; disliked. [OE. looth, loth, AS. la hostile, odious; akin to OS. l, G. leid, Icel. lei, Sw. led, G. leiden to suffer, OHG. lidan to suffer, go, cf. AS. li to go, Goth. leip]
- rife a.
- Prevailing; prevalent; abounding. [AS. rif abundant, or Icel. rifr munificent; akin to OD. riff, rijve, abundant.]
- borrow v. t.
- To receive from another as a loan, with the implied or expressed intention of returning the identical article or its equivalent in kind; -- the opposite of lend. [OE. borwen, AS. borgian, fr. borg, borh, pledge; akin to D. borg, G. borg; prob. fr. root of AS. beorgan to protect. Borough.]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- betide v. t.
- To happen to; to befall; to come to ; as, woe betide the wanderer. [OE. bitiden; pref. bi-, be- + tiden, fr. AS. tidan, to happen, fr. tid time. See Tide.]
- endeavour v. t.
- To exert physical or intellectual strength for the attainment of; to use efforts to effect; to strive to achieve or reach; to try; to attempt. [OE. endevor; pref. en- + dever, devoir, duty, F. devoir: cf. F. se mettre en devoir de faire quelque chose to try to do a thing, to go about it. See Devoir, Deb]
- sermon n.
- A discourse or address; a talk; a writing; as, the sermens of Chaucer. [OE. sermoun, sermun, F. sermon, fr. L. sermo, - onis, a speaking, discourse, probably fr. serer, sertum, to join, connect; hence, a connected speech. See Series]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- henceforth adv.
- From this time forward; henceforward.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Consider the Ravens 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, Consider the Ravens, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/consider-the-ravens.html, id L22427.
Form and metre
Consider the Ravens is 55 lines in 7 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 84% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%).
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 AABBCCDDEE wordsA · birdsA · goodB · understoodB · wheatC · eatC · sowD · stowD · storeE · moreE
- 2 AABBCC----DD theyA · playA · deepB · heapB · loathC · bothC · storms · worms · enough · off · frostD · lostD
- 3 AA--BB findA · mindA · morrow · borrow · itB · itB
- 4 AABBCCDD fearA · gearA · himB · himB · gotC · lotC · willD · stillD
- 5 AABBCC--DD endeavourA · everA · ageB · stageB · nightsC · rightsC · there · astare · thouD · allowD
- 6 AABBCC alarmA · harmA · saidB · bedB · placeC · graceC
- 7 -AA lord · wordA · birdA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Lord, according to thy words, | 7 | ·˘/˘··· |
| I have considered thy birds; | 7 | ··˘/˘·· |
| And I find their life good, | 6 | ······ |
| And better the better understood: | 9 | ·/˘·/˘·˘/ |
| Sowing neither corn nor wheat | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| They have all that they can eat; | 7 | ······· |
| Reaping no more than they sow | 7 | /˘····· |
| They have more than they could stow; | 7 | ······· |
| Having neither barn nor store, | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Hungry again, they eat more. | 7 | /˘˘/··· |
| Considering, I see too that they | 9 | ˘/˘˘····· |
| Have a busy life, and plenty of play; | 10 | ··/˘··/˘·· |
| In the earth they dig their bills deep | 8 | ········ |
| And work well though they do not heap; | 8 | ········ |
| Then to play in the air they are not loath, | 10 | ·········· |
| And their nests between are better than both. | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| But this is when there blow no storms, | 8 | ········ |
| When berries are plenty in winter, and worms, | 11 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| When feathers are rife, with oil enough-- | 9 | ·/˘····˘/ |
| To keep the cold out and send the rain off; | 10 | ·········· |
| If there come, indeed, a long hard frost | 9 | ···˘/···· |
| Then it looks as thy birds were lost. | 8 | ········ |
| But I consider further, and find | 9 | ··˘/˘/˘·· |
| A hungry bird has a free mind; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| He is hungry to-day, not to-morrow, | 10 | ··/˘····/˘ |
| Steals no comfort, no grief doth borrow; | 9 | ··/˘···/· |
| This moment is his, thy will hath said it, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| The next is nothing till thou hast made it. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Thy bird has pain, but has no fear | 8 | ········ |
| Which is the worst of any gear; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| When cold and hunger and harm betide him, | 10 | ···/˘··˘/· |
| He does not take them and stuff inside him; | 10 | ·······˘/· |
| Content with the day's ill he has got, | 9 | /˘······· |
| He waits just, nor haggles with his lot: | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| Neither jumbles God's will | 6 | /˘/˘·· |
| With driblets from his own still. | 7 | ······· |
| But next I see, in my endeavour, | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| Thy birds here do not live for ever; | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| That cold or hunger, sickness or age | 9 | ···/˘/˘·· |
| Finishes their earthly stage; | 7 | /˘˘·/˘· |
| The rooks drop in cold nights, | 6 | ······ |
| Leaving all their wrongs and rights; | 7 | /˘····· |
| Birds lie here and birds lie there | 7 | ······· |
| With their feathers all astare; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And in thy own sermon, thou | 7 | ····/˘· |
| That the sparrow falls dost allow. | 8 | ··/˘··˘/ |
| It shall not cause me any alarm, | 9 | ·····/˘˘/ |
| For neither so comes the bird to harm | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Seeing our father, thou hast said, | 9 | /˘/˘/˘··· |
| Is by the sparrow's dying bed; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Therefore it is a blessed place, | 7 | ······· |
| And the sparrow in high grace. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| It cometh therefore to this, Lord: | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| I have considered thy word, | 7 | ··˘/˘·· |
| And henceforth will be thy bird. | 7 | ·//···· |
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