Ower the Hedge II
Johnnie turned and left her,Listit for the war;In a year cam limpinHame wi' mony a scar.
Wha was that was sittinOn the brae, sae still?Worn and wan and altert,Could it be hersel?
Cled in black, her eelidsReid wi' greitin sair--Was she wife and widowIn a towmond bare?
Mally's hert played wallop,Kenned him or he spak:"Are ye no deid, Johnnie?Is't yersel come back?"
"Are ye wife or widow?Tell me in a breath;Lanely life is fearsome,Waur nor ony death!"
"Wha cud be a widowWife was never nane?Noo, gien ye will hae me,Noo I will be ane!"
Crutch awa he flang it,Clean forgot his hairms,Cudna stan' withoot it,Fell in Mally's airms.
Words in this poem
- limpin n.
- A limpet. Holland.
- brae n.
- A hillside; a slope; a bank; a hill. Burns. [See Bray a hill.]
- wallop v. i.
- To move quickly, but with great effort; to gallop. [Prov. Eng. [Cf. OFlem. walop a gallop; of uncertain origin. Cf. Gallop.]
- fearsome a.
- Frightful; causing fear
- crutch n.
- A staff with a crosspiece at the head, to be placed under the arm or shoulder, to support the lame or infirm in walking. [OE. cruche, AS. crycc, cricc; akin to D. kruk, G. kr, Dan. krykke, Sw. krycka, and to E. crook. See Crook, and cf. Cricket a low stool.]
- flang n.
- A miner's two-pointed pick.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ower the Hedge II 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, Ower the Hedge II, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/ower-the-hedge-ii.html, id L22533.
Form and metre
Ower the Hedge II is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is trochaic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
See other poems in trochaic trimeter.
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.
- 3 -A-A eelids · sairA · widow · bareA
- 4 -A-A wallop · spakA · johnnie · backA
- 5 -A-A widow · breathA · fearsome · deathA
- 6 -A-A widow · naneA · me · aneA
- 7 ABAB itA · hairmsB · itA · airmsB
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 trochaic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Johnnie turned and left her, | 6 | /˘···· |
| Listit for the war; | 5 | ····· |
| In a year cam limpin | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Hame wi' mony a scar. | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Wha was that was sittin | 6 | ······ |
| On the brae, sae still? | 5 | ····· |
| Worn and wan and altert, | 6 | ······ |
| Could it be hersel? | 5 | ····· |
| Cled in black, her eelids | 6 | ······ |
| Reid wi' greitin sair-- | 5 | ····· |
| Was she wife and widow | 6 | ····/˘ |
| In a towmond bare? | 5 | ····· |
| Mally's hert played wallop, | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| Kenned him or he spak: | 6 | ·˘···· |
| "Are ye no deid, Johnnie? | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Is't yersel come back?" | 5 | ····· |
| "Are ye wife or widow? | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Tell me in a breath; | 5 | ····· |
| Lanely life is fearsome, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Waur nor ony death!" | 5 | ··/˘· |
| "Wha cud be a widow | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Wife was never nane? | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Noo, gien ye will hae me, | 6 | ······ |
| Noo I will be ane!" | 5 | ····· |
| Crutch awa he flang it, | 6 | ······ |
| Clean forgot his hairms, | 5 | ·˘/·· |
| Cudna stan' withoot it, | 6 | ······ |
| Fell in Mally's airms. | 5 | ··/˘· |
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.