Let Your Light So Shine
Sometimes, O Lord, thou lightest in my headA lamp that well might pharos all the lands;Anon the light will neither rise nor spread:Shrouded in danger gray the beacon stands!
A pharos? Oh dull brain! poor dying lampUnder a bushel with an earthy smell!Mouldering it stands, in rust and eating damp,While the slow oil keeps oozing from its cell!
For me it were enough to be a flowerKnowing its root in thee, the Living, hid,Ordained to blossom at the appointed hour,And wake or sleep as thou, my Nature, bid;
But hear my brethren in their darkling fright!Hearten my lamp that it may shine abroadThen will they cry--Lo, there is something bright!Who kindled it if not the shining God?
Words in this poem
- pharos n.
- A lighthouse or beacon for the guidance of seamen.
- anon adv.
- Straightway; at once. [OE. anoon, anon, anan, lit., in one (moment), fr. AS. on in + an one. See On and One.]
- darkling a.
- Becoming dark or gloomy; frowing.
- hearten v. t.
- To encourage; to animate; to incite or stimulate the courage of; to embolden. [From Heart.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Let Your Light So Shine 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, Let Your Light So Shine, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/let-your-light-so-shine.html, id L22434.
Form and metre
Let Your Light So Shine is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. 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 ABAB headA · landsB · spreadA · standsB
- 2 ABAB lampA · smellB · dampA · cellB
- 3 ABAB flowerA · hidB · hourA · bidB
- 4 A-A- frightA · abroad · brightA · god
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Sometimes, O Lord, thou lightest in my head | 10 | ˘/···/˘··· |
| A lamp that well might pharos all the lands; | 10 | ·····/···· |
| Anon the light will neither rise nor spread: | 10 | ˘/···/˘··· |
| Shrouded in danger gray the beacon stands! | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| A pharos? Oh dull brain! poor dying lamp | 10 | ·/·····/˘· |
| Under a bushel with an earthy smell! | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Mouldering it stands, in rust and eating damp, | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| While the slow oil keeps oozing from its cell! | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| For me it were enough to be a flower | 11 | ····˘/···/˘ |
| Knowing its root in thee, the Living, hid, | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| Ordained to blossom at the appointed hour, | 11 | ˘/·/˘··˘/˘/ |
| And wake or sleep as thou, my Nature, bid; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| But hear my brethren in their darkling fright! | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Hearten my lamp that it may shine abroad | 10 | /˘······˘/ |
| Then will they cry--Lo, there is something bright! | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Who kindled it if not the shining God? | 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.