On a December Day I
This is the sweetness of an April day;The softness of the spring is on the faceOf the old year. She has no natural grace,But something comes to her from far away
Out of the Past, and on her old decayThe beauty of her childhood you can trace.--And yet she moveth with a stormy pace,And goeth quickly.--Stay, old year, oh, stay!
We do not like new friends, we love the old;With young, fierce, hopeful hearts we ill agree;But thou art patient, stagnant, calm, and cold,And not like that new year that is to be;--Life, promise, love, her eyes may fill, fair child!We know the past, and will not be beguiled.
Words in this poem
- childhood n.
- The state of being a child; the time in which persons are children; the condition or time from infancy to puberty. [AS. cildhad; cild child + -had. See Child, and hood.]
- hopeful a.
- Full of hope, or agreeable expectation; inclined to hope; expectant.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On a December Day I 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, On a December Day I, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/on-a-december-day-i.html, id L22398.
Form and metre
On a December Day I is 14 lines in 3 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABBA, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
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 ABBA dayA · faceB · graceB · awayA
- 2 ABBA decayA · traceB · paceB · stayA
- 3 ABABCC oldA · agreeB · coldA · beB · childC · beguiledC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| This is the sweetness of an April day; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| The softness of the spring is on the face | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Of the old year. She has no natural grace, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| But something comes to her from far away | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Out of the Past, and on her old decay | 10 | ········˘/ |
| The beauty of her childhood you can trace.-- | 10 | ·/˘··/···· |
| And yet she moveth with a stormy pace, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And goeth quickly.--Stay, old year, oh, stay! | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| We do not like new friends, we love the old; | 10 | ·········· |
| With young, fierce, hopeful hearts we ill agree; | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| But thou art patient, stagnant, calm, and cold, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| And not like that new year that is to be;-- | 10 | ·········· |
| Life, promise, love, her eyes may fill, fair child! | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| We know the past, and will not be beguiled. | 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.