Nature a Moral Power
Nature, to him no message dost thou bearWho in thy beauty findeth not the powerTo gird himself more strongly for the hourOf night and darkness. Oh, what colours rareThe woods, the valleys, and the mountains wearTo him who knows thy secret, and, in shower,And fog, and ice-cloud, hath a secret bowerWhere he may rest until the heavens are fair!Not with the rest of slumber, but the tranceOf onward movement steady and serene,Where oft, in struggle and in contest keen,His eyes will opened be, and all the danceOf life break on him, and a wide expanseRoll upward through the void, sunny and green.
Words in this poem
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Nature a Moral Power 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, Nature a Moral Power, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/nature-a-moral-power.html, id L22457.
Form and metre
Nature a Moral Power is 14 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 71% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 ABBAABBACDDCCD bearA · powerB · hourB · rareA · wearA · showerB · bowerB · fairA · tranceC · sereneD · keenD · danceC · expanseC · greenD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Nature, to him no message dost thou bear | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Who in thy beauty findeth not the power | 11 | ···/˘/˘··/˘ |
| To gird himself more strongly for the hour | 11 | ··˘/·/˘··/˘ |
| Of night and darkness. Oh, what colours rare | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| The woods, the valleys, and the mountains wear | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| To him who knows thy secret, and, in shower, | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| And fog, and ice-cloud, hath a secret bower | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Where he may rest until the heavens are fair! | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| Not with the rest of slumber, but the trance | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Of onward movement steady and serene, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Where oft, in struggle and in contest keen, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| His eyes will opened be, and all the dance | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Of life break on him, and a wide expanse | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Roll upward through the void, sunny and green. | 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.