Halloween
Sweep up the flure, Janet;Put on anither peat.It's a lown and a starry nicht, Janet,And nowther cauld nor weet.
It's the nicht atween the Sancts and SoulsWhan the bodiless gang aboot;And it's open hoose we keep the nichtFor ony that may be oot.
Set the cheirs back to the wa', Janet;Mak ready for quaiet fowk.Hae a'thing as clean as a windin-sheet:They comena ilka ook.
There's a spale upo' the flure, Janet,And there's a rowan-berry!Sweep them intil the fire, Janet,Or they'll neither come nor tarry.
Syne set open the outer dure--Wide open for wha kens wha?As ye come ben to your bed, Janet,Set baith dures to the wa'.
She set the cheirs back to the wa',But ane that was o' the birk;She sweepit the flure, but left the spale--A lang spale o' the aik.
The nicht was lown; the stars sae stillWar glintin doon the sky;The souls crap oot o' their mooly graves,A' dank wi' lyin by.
They faund the dure wide to the wa',And the peats blawn rosy reid:They war shuneless feet gaed in and oot,Nor clampit as they gaed.
The mither she keekit but the hoose,Saw what she ill could say;Quakin she slidit doon by Janet,And gaspin a whilie she lay.
There's are o' them sittin afore the fire!Ye wudna hearken to me!Janet, ye left a cheir by the fire,Whaur I tauld ye nae cheir suld be!
Janet she smilit in her minnie's face:She had brunt the roden reid,But she left aneth the birken cheirThe spale frae a coffin-lid!
Saft she rase and gaed but the hoose,And ilka dure did steik.Three hours gaed by, and her minnie heardSound o' the deid nor quick.
Whan the gray cock crew, she heard on the flureThe fa' o' shuneless feet;Whan the rud cock crew, she heard the dure,And a sough o' win' and weet.
Whan the goud cock crew, Janet cam back;Her face it was gray o' ble;Wi' starin een, at her mither's sideShe lay doon like a bairn to dee.
Her white lips hadna a word to lat fa'Mair nor the soulless deid;Seven lang days and nights she lay,And never a word she said.
Syne suddent, as oot o' a sleep, she brade,Smilin richt winsumly;And she spak, but her word it was far and strayit,Like a whisper come ower the sea.
And never again did they hear her lauch,Nor ever a tear doun ran;But a smile aye flittit aboot her faceLike the mune on a water wan.
And ilka nicht atween Sancts and SoulsShe laid the dures to the wa',Blew up the fire, and set the cheir,And loot the spale doon fa'.
And at midnicht she gaed but the hooseAye steekin dure and dure.Whan the goud cock crew, quaiet as a mooseShe cam creepin ower the flure.
Mair wan grew her face, and her smile mair sweetQuhill the seventh Halloweve:Her mother she heard the shuneless feet,Said--She'll be ben belyve!
She camna ben. Her minnie rase--For fear she 'maist cudna stan;She grippit the wa', and but she gaed,For the goud cock lang had crawn.
There sat Janet upo' the birk cheir,White as the day did daw;But her smile was a sunglint left on the seaWhan the sun himsel is awa.
Words in this poem 18
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
- weet v. i.
- To know; to wit. Tyndale. [See Wit to know.]
- atween adv.
- Between. Spenser. [See Atwain, and cf. Between.]
- bodiless a.
- Having no body.
- spale n.
- A lath; a shaving or chip, as of wood or stone. [Cf. Spell a splinter.]
- syne adv.
- Afterwards; since; ago. R. of Brunne. [See Since.]
- dure v. i.
- To last; to continue; to endure. Sir W. Raleigh. [F. durer, L. durare to harden, be hardened, to endure, last, fr. durus hard. See Dure, a.]
- birk n.
- A small European minnow (Leuciscus phoxinus).
- crap n.
- In the game of craps, a first throw of the dice in which the total is two, three, or twelve, in which case the caster loses.
- dank n.
- Moisture; humidity; water.
- afore prep.
- Before (in all its senses).
- brunt n.
- The heat, or utmost violence, of an onset; the strength or greatest fury of any contention; as, the brunt of a battle. [OE. brunt, bront, fr. Icel. bruna to rush; cf. Icel. brenna to burn. Cf. Burn, v. t.]
- birken v. t.
- To whip with a birch or rod. [From 1st Birk.]
- rase v. t.
- To rub along the surface of; to graze. [F. raser, LL. rasare to scrape often, v. freq. fr. L. radere, rasum, to scrape, shave; cf. Skr. rad to scratch, gnaw, L. rodere to gnaw. Cf. Raze, Razee, Razor,]
- steik v. t.
- To pierce with a sharp instrument; hence, to stitch; to sew; also, to fix; to fasten. [Cf. Stick, v. t.]
- sough n.
- A small drain; an adit. W. M. Buchanan. [Etymol. uncertain.]
- soulless a.
- Being without a soul, or without greatness or nobleness of mind; mean; spiritless.
- loot n.
- The act of plundering. [Hind. l, Skr. l, l, booty, lup to break, spoil; prob. akin to E. rob.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Halloween 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, Halloween, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/halloween.html, id L22544.
Form and metre
Halloween is 88 lines in 22 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 79%).
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 ABAB janetA · peatB · janetA · weetB
- 2 -A-A souls · abootA · nicht · ootA
- 3 A-A- janetA · fowk · sheetA · ook
- 4 ABAB janetA · berryB · janetA · tarryB
- 7 -A-A still · skyA · graves · byA
- 9 -A-A hoose · sayA · janet · layA
- 10 ABAB fireA · meB · fireA · beB
- 13 -A-A flure · feetA · dure · weetA
- 19 A-A- hooseA · dure · mooseA · flure
- 20 A-A- sweetA · halloweve · feetA · belyve
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Sweep up the flure, Janet; | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Put on anither peat. | 6 | ······ |
| It's a lown and a starry nicht, Janet, | 10 | ·····/˘·/˘ |
| And nowther cauld nor weet. | 6 | ······ |
| It's the nicht atween the Sancts and Souls | 9 | ···˘/···· |
| Whan the bodiless gang aboot; | 8 | ··/˘˘··· |
| And it's open hoose we keep the nicht | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| For ony that may be oot. | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Set the cheirs back to the wa', Janet; | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Mak ready for quaiet fowk. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Hae a'thing as clean as a windin-sheet: | 10 | ·········· |
| They comena ilka ook. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| There's a spale upo' the flure, Janet, | 10 | ········/˘ |
| And there's a rowan-berry! | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Sweep them intil the fire, Janet, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Or they'll neither come nor tarry. | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Syne set open the outer dure-- | 9 | ··/˘·/˘/˘ |
| Wide open for wha kens wha? | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| As ye come ben to your bed, Janet, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Set baith dures to the wa'. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| She set the cheirs back to the wa', | 8 | ········ |
| But ane that was o' the birk; | 7 | ······· |
| She sweepit the flure, but left the spale-- | 10 | ·········· |
| A lang spale o' the aik. | 7 | ······· |
| The nicht was lown; the stars sae still | 8 | ········ |
| War glintin doon the sky; | 6 | ······ |
| The souls crap oot o' their mooly graves, | 9 | ········· |
| A' dank wi' lyin by. | 5 | ····· |
| They faund the dure wide to the wa', | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| And the peats blawn rosy reid: | 7 | ····/˘· |
| They war shuneless feet gaed in and oot, | 10 | ·········· |
| Nor clampit as they gaed. | 6 | ······ |
| The mither she keekit but the hoose, | 9 | ········· |
| Saw what she ill could say; | 6 | ······ |
| Quakin she slidit doon by Janet, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| And gaspin a whilie she lay. | 8 | ········ |
| There's are o' them sittin afore the fire! | 11 | ······˘/·/˘ |
| Ye wudna hearken to me! | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Janet, ye left a cheir by the fire, | 10 | /˘······/˘ |
| Whaur I tauld ye nae cheir suld be! | 8 | ········ |
| Janet she smilit in her minnie's face: | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| She had brunt the roden reid, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| But she left aneth the birken cheir | 9 | ······/˘· |
| The spale frae a coffin-lid! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Saft she rase and gaed but the hoose, | 8 | ········ |
| And ilka dure did steik. | 7 | ·/˘/˘·· |
| Three hours gaed by, and her minnie heard | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Sound o' the deid nor quick. | 6 | ······ |
| Whan the gray cock crew, she heard on the flure | 10 | ·········· |
| The fa' o' shuneless feet; | 7 | ······· |
| Whan the rud cock crew, she heard the dure, | 10 | ········/˘ |
| And a sough o' win' and weet. | 7 | ······· |
| Whan the goud cock crew, Janet cam back; | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Her face it was gray o' ble; | 7 | ······· |
| Wi' starin een, at her mither's side | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| She lay doon like a bairn to dee. | 8 | ········ |
| Her white lips hadna a word to lat fa' | 10 | ·········· |
| Mair nor the soulless deid; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Seven lang days and nights she lay, | 8 | /˘······ |
| And never a word she said. | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Syne suddent, as oot o' a sleep, she brade, | 10 | ·········· |
| Smilin richt winsumly; | 6 | ······ |
| And she spak, but her word it was far and strayit, | 11 | ··········· |
| Like a whisper come ower the sea. | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| And never again did they hear her lauch, | 10 | ·/˘˘/····· |
| Nor ever a tear doun ran; | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| But a smile aye flittit aboot her face | 10 | ·········· |
| Like the mune on a water wan. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And ilka nicht atween Sancts and Souls | 9 | ·/˘·˘/··· |
| She laid the dures to the wa', | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Blew up the fire, and set the cheir, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| And loot the spale doon fa'. | 7 | ······· |
| And at midnicht she gaed but the hoose | 9 | ········· |
| Aye steekin dure and dure. | 8 | ···/˘·/˘ |
| Whan the goud cock crew, quaiet as a moose | 9 | ········· |
| She cam creepin ower the flure. | 8 | ········ |
| Mair wan grew her face, and her smile mair sweet | 10 | ·········· |
| Quhill the seventh Halloweve: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Her mother she heard the shuneless feet, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Said--She'll be ben belyve! | 6 | ······ |
| She camna ben. Her minnie rase-- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| For fear she 'maist cudna stan; | 7 | ······· |
| She grippit the wa', and but she gaed, | 9 | ········· |
| For the goud cock lang had crawn. | 7 | ······· |
| There sat Janet upo' the birk cheir, | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| White as the day did daw; | 6 | ······ |
| But her smile was a sunglint left on the sea | 11 | ··········· |
| Whan the sun himsel is awa. | 8 | ········ |
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