Hope Deferred
"Where is thy crown, O tree of Love?Flowers only bears thy root!Will never rain drop from aboveDivine enough for fruit?"
"I dwell in hope that gives good cheer,Twilight my darkest hour;For seest thou not that every yearI break in better flower?"
God gives his child upon his slate a sum--To find eternity in hours and years;With both sides covered, back the child doth come,His dim eyes swollen with shed and unshed tears;God smiles, wipes clean the upper side and nether,And says, "Now, dear, we'll do the sum together!"
Words in this poem
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
- unshed a.
- Not parted or divided, as the hair.
- nether a.
- Situated down or below; lying beneath, or in the lower part; having a lower position; belonging to the region below; lower; under; -- opposed to upper. [OE. nethere, neithere, AS. ni, fr. the adv. ni downward; akin to neo below, beneath, D. neder down, G. nieder, Sw. nedre below, nether, a. & adv., and also to S]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Hope Deferred 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, Hope Deferred, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/hope-deferred.html, id L22327.
Form and metre
Hope Deferred is 14 lines in 3 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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 loveA · rootB · aboveA · fruitB
- 2 ABAB cheerA · hourB · yearA · flowerB
- 3 ABABCC sumA · yearsB · comeA · tearsB · netherC · togetherC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| "Where is thy crown, O tree of Love? | 8 | ········ |
| Flowers only bears thy root! | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Will never rain drop from above | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Divine enough for fruit?" | 6 | ˘/˘/·· |
| "I dwell in hope that gives good cheer, | 8 | ········ |
| Twilight my darkest hour; | 7 | /··/˘/˘ |
| For seest thou not that every year | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| I break in better flower?" | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| God gives his child upon his slate a sum-- | 10 | ·········· |
| To find eternity in hours and years; | 10 | ··˘/˘˘·/·· |
| With both sides covered, back the child doth come, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| His dim eyes swollen with shed and unshed tears; | 11 | ···/˘···˘/· |
| God smiles, wipes clean the upper side and nether, | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| And says, "Now, dear, we'll do the sum together!" | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
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.