Evil Influence
'Tis not the violent hands alone that bringThe curse, the ravage, and the downward doom,Although to these full oft the yawning tombOwes deadly surfeit; but a keener sting,A more immortal agony will clingTo the half fashioned sin which would assumeFair Virtue's garb; the eye that sows the gloomWith quiet seeds of Death henceforth to springWhat time the sun of passion burning fierceBreaks through the kindly cloud of circumstance;The bitter word, and the unkindly glance,The crust and canker coming with the years,Are liker Death than arrows and the lanceWhich through the living heart at once doth pierce.
Words in this poem
- keener n.
- A professional mourner who wails at a funeral. [Ireland]
- garb n.
- External appearance, as expressive of the feelings or character; looks; fashion or manner, as of speech. [OF. garbe looks, countenance, grace, ornament, fr. OHG. garawi, garwi, ornament, dress. akin to E. gear. See Gear, n.]
- henceforth adv.
- From this time forward; henceforward.
- unkindly a.
- Not kindly; unkind; ungracious.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Evil Influence 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, Evil Influence, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/evil-influence.html, id L22455.
Form and metre
Evil Influence is 14 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 57% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
See other poems in heroic couplets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 ABBAABBACDD-DC bringA · doomB · tombB · stingA · clingA · assumeB · gloomB · springA · fierceC · circumstanceD · glanceD · years · lanceD · pierceC
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| 'Tis not the violent hands alone that bring | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| The curse, the ravage, and the downward doom, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Although to these full oft the yawning tomb | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Owes deadly surfeit; but a keener sting, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| A more immortal agony will cling | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘˘·· |
| To the half fashioned sin which would assume | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Fair Virtue's garb; the eye that sows the gloom | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| With quiet seeds of Death henceforth to spring | 10 | ·/˘···//·· |
| What time the sun of passion burning fierce | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Breaks through the kindly cloud of circumstance; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| The bitter word, and the unkindly glance, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| The crust and canker coming with the years, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Are liker Death than arrows and the lance | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Which through the living heart at once doth pierce. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
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.