I.—This Side an' That
The rich man sat in his father's seat--Purple an' linen, an' a'thing fine!The puir man lay at his yett i' the street--Sairs an' tatters, an' weary pine!
To the rich man's table ilk dainty comes,Mony a morsel gaed frae't, or fell;The puir man fain wud hae dined on the crumbs,But whether he got them I canna tell.
Servants prood, saft-fittit, an' stoot,Stan by the rich man's curtained doors;Maisterless dogs 'at rin abootCam to the puir man an' lickit his sores.
The rich man deeit, an' they buried him gran',In linen fine his body they wrap;But the angels tuik up the beggar man,An' layit him doun in Abraham's lap.
The guid upo' this side, the ill upo' that--Sic was the rich man's waesome fa'!But his brithers they eat, an' they drink, an' they chat,An' carena a strae for their Father's ha'!
The trowth's the trowth, think what ye will;An' some they kenna what they wad be at;But the beggar man thoucht he did no that ill,Wi' the dogs o' this side, the angels o' that!
Words in this poem
- yett n.
- Any one of several species of large marine gastropods belonging to the genus Yetus, or Cymba; a boat shell.
- dainty n.
- Value; estimation; the gratification or pleasure taken in anything. [OE. deinie, dainte, deintie, deyntee, OF. deintié delicacy, orig., dignity, honor, fr. L. dignitas, fr. dignus worthy. See Deign, and cf. Dignity.]
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- canna n.
- A measure of length in Italy, varying from six to seven feet. [It.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
I.—This Side an' That 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, I.—This Side an' That, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/i-this-side-an-that.html, id L22546.
Form and metre
I.—This Side an' That is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 5 of its 6 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter.
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 seatA · fineB · streetA · pineB
- 2 ABAB comesA · fellB · crumbsA · tellB
- 3 ABAB stootA · doorsB · abootA · soresB
- 4 ABAB granA · wrapB · manA · lapB
- 5 A-A- thatA · fa · chatA · ha
- 6 ABAB willA · atB · illA · thatB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The rich man sat in his father's seat-- | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Purple an' linen, an' a'thing fine! | 9 | /˘·/˘···· |
| The puir man lay at his yett i' the street-- | 10 | ·········· |
| Sairs an' tatters, an' weary pine! | 8 | ··/˘·/˘· |
| To the rich man's table ilk dainty comes, | 10 | ····/˘·/˘· |
| Mony a morsel gaed frae't, or fell; | 9 | /˘·/˘···· |
| The puir man fain wud hae dined on the crumbs, | 10 | ·········· |
| But whether he got them I canna tell. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Servants prood, saft-fittit, an' stoot, | 8 | /˘······ |
| Stan by the rich man's curtained doors; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Maisterless dogs 'at rin aboot | 8 | ········ |
| Cam to the puir man an' lickit his sores. | 10 | ·········· |
| The rich man deeit, an' they buried him gran', | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| In linen fine his body they wrap; | 9 | ·/˘··/˘·· |
| But the angels tuik up the beggar man, | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| An' layit him doun in Abraham's lap. | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| The guid upo' this side, the ill upo' that-- | 11 | ··········· |
| Sic was the rich man's waesome fa'! | 8 | ········ |
| But his brithers they eat, an' they drink, an' they chat, | 12 | ············ |
| An' carena a strae for their Father's ha'! | 11 | ··/˘····/˘· |
| The trowth's the trowth, think what ye will; | 8 | ········ |
| An' some they kenna what they wad be at; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| But the beggar man thoucht he did no that ill, | 11 | ··/˘······· |
| Wi' the dogs o' this side, the angels o' that! | 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.