Gaein and Comin
Whan Andrew frae Strathbogie gaedThe lift was lowerin dreary,The sun he wadna raise his heid,The win' blew laich and eerie.In's pooch he had a plack or twa--I vow he hadna mony,Yet Andrew like a linty sang,For Lizzie was sae bonny!O Lizzie, Lizzie, bonny lassie!Bonny, saucy hizzy!What richt had ye to luik at meAnd drive me daft and dizzy?
Whan Andrew to Strathbogie camThe sun was shinin rarely;He rade a horse that pranced and sprang--I vow he sat him fairly!And he had gowd to spen' and spare,And a hert as true as ony;But his luik was doon, his sigh was sair,For Lizzie was sae bonny!O Lizzie, Lizzie, bonny hizzy!Aih, the sunlicht weary!Ye're straucht and rare--ye're fause though fair!--Hech, auld John Armstrong's deary!
Words in this poem
- dreary a.
- Sorrowful; distressful. [OE. dreori, dreri, AS. dreórig, sad; akin to G. traurig, and prob. to AS. dreósan to fall, Goth. driusan. Cf. Dross, Drear, Drizzle, Drowse.]
- eerie a.
- Serving to inspire fear, esp. a dread of seeing ghosts; wild; weird; as, eerie stories. [Scotch, fr. AS. earh timid.]
- plack n.
- A small copper coin formerly current in Scotland, worth less than a cent. [F. plaque a plate of metal. Cf. Plaque.]
- bonny a.
- Handsome; beautiful; pretty; attractively lively and graceful. [OE. boni, prob. fr. F. bon, fem. bonne, good, fr. L. bonus good. See Bounty, and cf. Bonus, Boon.]
- lassie n.
- A young girl; a lass.
- daft a.
- Stupid; folish; idiotic; also, delirious; insance; as, he has gone daft. [OE. daft, deft, deft, stupid; prob. the same word as E. deft. See Deft.]
- fairly adv.
- In a fairmanner; clearly; openly; plainly; fully; distinctly; frankly.
- auld a.
- Old; as, Auld Reekie (old smoky), i. e., Edinburgh. [See Old.]
- deary n.
- A dear; a darling. [Familiar]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Gaein and Comin 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, Gaein and Comin, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/gaein-and-comin.html, id L22534.
Form and metre
Gaein and Comin is 24 lines in 2 stanzas of 12 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
See 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 -A-A-----B-B gaed · drearyA · heid · eerieA · twa · mony · sang · bonny · lassie · hizzyB · me · dizzyB
- 2 -A-AB-B--CBC cam · rarelyA · sprang · fairlyA · spareB · ony · sairB · bonny · hizzy · wearyC · fairB · dearyC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Whan Andrew frae Strathbogie gaed | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The lift was lowerin dreary, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| The sun he wadna raise his heid, | 8 | ········ |
| The win' blew laich and eerie. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| In's pooch he had a plack or twa-- | 8 | ········ |
| I vow he hadna mony, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Yet Andrew like a linty sang, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| For Lizzie was sae bonny! | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| O Lizzie, Lizzie, bonny lassie! | 9 | ·/˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| Bonny, saucy hizzy! | 6 | /˘/˘·· |
| What richt had ye to luik at me | 8 | ········ |
| And drive me daft and dizzy? | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Whan Andrew to Strathbogie cam | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The sun was shinin rarely; | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| He rade a horse that pranced and sprang-- | 8 | ········ |
| I vow he sat him fairly! | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And he had gowd to spen' and spare, | 8 | ········ |
| And a hert as true as ony; | 8 | ······/˘ |
| But his luik was doon, his sigh was sair, | 9 | ········· |
| For Lizzie was sae bonny! | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| O Lizzie, Lizzie, bonny hizzy! | 9 | ·/˘/˘/˘·· |
| Aih, the sunlicht weary! | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Ye're straucht and rare--ye're fause though fair!-- | 8 | ········ |
| Hech, auld John Armstrong's deary! | 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.