Greitna, Father
Greitna, father, that I'm gauin,For fu' well ye ken the gaet;I' the winter, corn ye're sawin,I' the hairst again ye hae't.
I'm gauin hame to see my mither;She'll be weel acquant or this!Sair we'll muse at ane anither'Tween the auld word an' new kiss!
Love I'm doobtin may be scantyRoun ye efter I'm awa:Yon kirkyard has happin plentyClose aside me, green an' braw!
An' abune there's room for mony;'Twasna made for ane or twa,But was aye for a' an' onyCountin love the best ava.
There nane less ye'll be my father;Auld names we'll nor tyne nor spare!A' my sonship I maun gatherFor the Son is king up there.
Greitna, father, that I'm gauin,For ye ken fu' well the gaet!Here, in winter, cast yer sawin,There, in hairst, again ye hae't!
Words in this poem
- weel
- A kind of trap or snare for fish, made of twigs. Carew. [Prov. E. weel, weal, a wicker basket to catch eels; prob. akin to willow, and so called as made of willow twigs.]
- auld a.
- Old; as, Auld Reekie (old smoky), i. e., Edinburgh. [See Old.]
- roun v. i.
- To whisper. [obs.] Gower. [AS. r, fr. r a rune, secret, mystery; akin to G. raunen to whisper. See Rune.]
- braw a.
- Well-dressed; handsome; smart; brave; -- used of persons or their clothing, etc.; as, a braw lad.
- sonship n.
- The state of being a son, or of bearing the relation of a son; filiation. Dr. H. More.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Greitna, Father 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, Greitna, Father, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/greitna-father.html, id L22566.
Form and metre
Greitna, Father is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
See other poems in trochaic 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 gauin · gaetA · sawin · hae'tA
- 2 ABAB mitherA · thisB · anitherA · kissB
- 4 A-A- monyA · twa · onyA · ava
- 5 -A-A father · spareA · gather · thereA
- 6 -A-A gauin · gaetA · sawin · hae'tA
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Greitna, father, that I'm gauin, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| For fu' well ye ken the gaet; | 7 | ······· |
| I' the winter, corn ye're sawin, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| I' the hairst again ye hae't. | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| I'm gauin hame to see my mither; | 8 | ········ |
| She'll be weel acquant or this! | 7 | ······· |
| Sair we'll muse at ane anither | 8 | ········ |
| 'Tween the auld word an' new kiss! | 7 | ······· |
| Love I'm doobtin may be scanty | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Roun ye efter I'm awa: | 7 | ······· |
| Yon kirkyard has happin plenty | 8 | ·/˘···/˘ |
| Close aside me, green an' braw! | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| An' abune there's room for mony; | 8 | ······/˘ |
| 'Twasna made for ane or twa, | 7 | ······· |
| But was aye for a' an' ony | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Countin love the best ava. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| There nane less ye'll be my father; | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Auld names we'll nor tyne nor spare! | 7 | ······· |
| A' my sonship I maun gather | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| For the Son is king up there. | 7 | ······· |
| Greitna, father, that I'm gauin, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| For ye ken fu' well the gaet! | 7 | ······· |
| Here, in winter, cast yer sawin, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| There, in hairst, again ye hae't! | 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.