Greville Matheson Macdonald
First, most, to thee, my son, I give this bookIn which a friend's and brother's verses blendWith mine; for not son only--brother, friend,Art thou, through sonship which no veil can brookBetween the eyes that in each other look,Or any shadow 'twixt the hearts that tendStill nearer, with divine approach, to endIn love eternal that cannot be shookWhen all the shakable shall cease to be.With growing hope I greet the coming dayWhen from thy journey done I welcome theeWho sharest in the names of all the three,And take thee to the two, and humbly say,Let this man be the fourth with us, I pray.
Words in this poem
- sonship n.
- The state of being a son, or of bearing the relation of a son; filiation. Dr. H. More.
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
- 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,]
- humbly adv.
- With humility; lowly.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Greville Matheson Macdonald 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, Greville Matheson Macdonald, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/greville-matheson-macdonald.html, id L22361.
Form and metre
Greville Matheson Macdonald is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAABBACDCCDD. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
See 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 ABBAABBACDCCDD bookA · blendB · friendB · brookA · lookA · tendB · endB · shookA · beC · dayD · theeC · threeC · sayD · prayD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| First, most, to thee, my son, I give this book | 10 | ·········· |
| In which a friend's and brother's verses blend | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| With mine; for not son only--brother, friend, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Art thou, through sonship which no veil can brook | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Between the eyes that in each other look, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Or any shadow 'twixt the hearts that tend | 10 | ·/˘/······ |
| Still nearer, with divine approach, to end | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘/·· |
| In love eternal that cannot be shook | 10 | ··˘/˘·˘/·· |
| When all the shakable shall cease to be. | 10 | ·········· |
| With growing hope I greet the coming day | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| When from thy journey done I welcome thee | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Who sharest in the names of all the three, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And take thee to the two, and humbly say, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Let this man be the fourth with us, I pray. | 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.