God in Growth
I said, I will arise and work some thing,Nor be content with growth, but cause to growA life around me, clear as yes from no,That to my restless hand some rest may bring,And give a vital power to Action's spring:Thus, I must cease to be! I cried; when, lo!An angel stood beside me on the snow,With folded wings that came of pondering."God's glory flashes on the silence hereBeneath the moon," he cried, and upward threwHis glorious eyes that swept the utmost blue,"Ere yet his bounding brooks run forth with cheerTo bear his message to the hidden yearWho cometh up in haste to make his glory new."
Words in this poem
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
God in Growth 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, God in Growth, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/god-in-growth.html, id L22484.
Form and metre
God in Growth is 14 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 71% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
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 ABBAABBACDDCCD thingA · growB · noB · bringA · springA · loB · snowB · ponderingA · hereC · threwD · blueD · cheerC · yearC · newD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I said, I will arise and work some thing, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Nor be content with growth, but cause to grow | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| A life around me, clear as yes from no, | 10 | ·········· |
| That to my restless hand some rest may bring, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And give a vital power to Action's spring: | 10 | ···/˘/·/˘· |
| Thus, I must cease to be! I cried; when, lo! | 10 | ·········· |
| An angel stood beside me on the snow, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| With folded wings that came of pondering. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘˘ |
| "God's glory flashes on the silence here | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Beneath the moon," he cried, and upward threw | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| His glorious eyes that swept the utmost blue, | 10 | ·/˘····/·· |
| "Ere yet his bounding brooks run forth with cheer | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| To bear his message to the hidden year | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Who cometh up in haste to make his glory new." | 12 | ·/˘······/˘· |
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.