From Novalis
Uplifted is the stoneAnd all mankind arisen!We are thy very own,We are no more in prison!What bitterest grief can stayBeside thy golden cup,When earth and life give wayAnd with our Lord we sup!
To the marriage Death doth call,The lamps are burning clear,The virgins, ready all,Have for their oil no fear.Would that even now were ringingThe distance with thy throng!And that the stars were singingTo us a human song!
Courage! for life is hastingTo endless life away;The inward fire, unwasting,Transfigures our dull clay!See the stars melting, sinkingIn life-wine golden-bright!We, of the splendour drinking,Shall grow to stars of light.
Lost, lost are all our losses!Love is for ever free!The full life heaves and tossesLike an unbounded sea!One live, eternal story!One poem high and broad!And sun of all our gloryThe countenance of God!
Words in this poem
- splendour n.
- Great brightness; brilliant luster; brilliancy; as, the splendor ot the sun. B. Jonson. [L. fr. splendere to shine: cf. F. splendeur.]
- 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,]
- heaves n.
- A disease of horses, characterized by difficult breathing, with heaving of the flank, wheezing, flatulency, and a peculiar cough; broken wind.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
From Novalis 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, From Novalis, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/from-novalis.html, id L22489.
Form and metre
From Novalis is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCDCD, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
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 ABABCDCD stoneA · arisenB · ownA · prisonB · stayC · cupD · wayC · supD
- 2 ABABCDCD callA · clearB · allA · fearB · ringingC · throngD · singingC · songD
- 3 ABABCDCD hastingA · awayB · unwastingA · clayB · sinkingC · brightD · drinkingC · lightD
- 4 ABABC-C- lossesA · freeB · tossesA · seaB · storyC · broad · gloryC · god
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Uplifted is the stone | 6 | /˘˘··· |
| And all mankind arisen! | 7 | ··//˘/˘ |
| We are thy very own, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| We are no more in prison! | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| What bitterest grief can stay | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Beside thy golden cup, | 6 | ˘/·/˘· |
| When earth and life give way | 6 | ······ |
| And with our Lord we sup! | 6 | ··/··· |
| To the marriage Death doth call, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| The lamps are burning clear, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The virgins, ready all, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Have for their oil no fear. | 6 | ······ |
| Would that even now were ringing | 7 | ··/··/˘ |
| The distance with thy throng! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And that the stars were singing | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| To us a human song! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Courage! for life is hasting | 7 | /˘···/˘ |
| To endless life away; | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| The inward fire, unwasting, | 7 | ·/˘/··· |
| Transfigures our dull clay! | 6 | ···/·· |
| See the stars melting, sinking | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| In life-wine golden-bright! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| We, of the splendour drinking, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Shall grow to stars of light. | 6 | ······ |
| Lost, lost are all our losses! | 7 | ····//˘ |
| Love is for ever free! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The full life heaves and tosses | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Like an unbounded sea! | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| One live, eternal story! | 7 | ··˘/˘/˘ |
| One poem high and broad! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And sun of all our glory | 7 | ····//˘ |
| The countenance of God! | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
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.