Life-Weary
O Thou that walkest with nigh hopeless feetPast the one harbour, built for thee and thine.Doth no stray odour from its table greet,No truant beam from fire or candle shine?
At his wide door the host doth stand and call;At every lattice gracious forms invite;Thou seest but a dull-gray, solid wallIn forest sullen with the things of night!
Thou cravest rest, and Rest for thee doth crave,The white sheet folded down, white robe apart.--Shame, Faithless! No, I do not mean the grave!I mean Love's very house and hearth and heart.
Words in this poem
- harbour n.
- A station for rest and entertainment; a place of security and comfort; a refuge; a shelter. [OE herbor, herberwe, herberge, Icel. herbergi (cf. OHG. heriberga), orig., a shelter for soldiers; herr army + bjarga to save, help, defend; akin to AS. here ar]
- odour n.
- Any smell, whether fragrant or offensive; scent; perfume. [OE. odor, odour, OF. odor, odour, F. odeur, fr. L. odor; akin to olere to smell, Gr. Olfactory, Osmium, Ozone, Redolent.]
- sullen a.
- Lonely; solitary; desolate. Wyclif (Job iii. 14). [OE. solein, solain, lonely, sullen; through Old French fr. (assumed) LL. solanus solitary, fr. L. solus alone. See Sole, a.]
- crave v. t.
- To ask with earnestness or importunity; to ask with submission or humility; to beg; to entreat; to beseech; to implore. [AS. crafian; akin to Icel. krefia, Sw. kr, Dan. kr.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Life-Weary 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, Life-Weary, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/life-weary.html, id L22301.
Form and metre
Life-Weary is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
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 feetA · thineB · greetA · shineB
- 2 ABAB callA · inviteB · wallA · nightB
- 3 ABAB craveA · apartB · graveA · heartB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| O Thou that walkest with nigh hopeless feet | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Past the one harbour, built for thee and thine. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Doth no stray odour from its table greet, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| No truant beam from fire or candle shine? | 10 | ·/˘··/·/˘· |
| At his wide door the host doth stand and call; | 10 | ·········· |
| At every lattice gracious forms invite; | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Thou seest but a dull-gray, solid wall | 9 | ······/˘· |
| In forest sullen with the things of night! | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Thou cravest rest, and Rest for thee doth crave, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| The white sheet folded down, white robe apart.-- | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Shame, Faithless! No, I do not mean the grave! | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| I mean Love's very house and hearth and heart. | 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.