Provision
Above my head the great pine-branches tower;Backwards and forwards each to the other bends,Beckoning the tempest-cloud which hither wendsLike a slow-laboured thought, heavy with power:Hark to the patter of the coming shower!Let me be silent while the Almighty sendsHis thunder-word along--but when it endsI will arise and fashion from the hourWords of stupendous import, fit to guardHigh thoughts and purposes, which I may wave,When the temptation cometh close and hard,Like fiery brands betwixt me and the graveOf meaner things--to which I am a slave,If evermore I keep not watch and ward.
Words in this poem
- patter v. i.
- To strike with a quick succession of slight, sharp sounds; as, pattering rain or hail; pattering feet. [Freq. of pat to strike gently.]
- stupendous a.
- Astonishing; wonderful; amazing; especially, astonishing in magnitude or elevation; as, a stupendous pile. [L. stupendus astonishing, p. future pass. of stupere to be astonished at. Cf. Stupid.]
- betwixt prep.
- In the space which separates; between. [OE. betwix, bitwix, rarely bitwixt, AS. betweox, betweohs, betweoh, betwih; pref. be- by + a form fr. AS. twa two. See Between.]
- evermore adv.
- During eternity; always; forever; for an indefinite period; at all times; -- often used substantively with for.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Provision 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, Provision, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/provision.html, id L22462.
Form and metre
Provision is 14 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 57% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
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 ABBAABBACDCDD- towerA · bendsB · wendsB · powerA · showerA · sendsB · endsB · hourA · guardC · waveD · hardC · graveD · slaveD · ward
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Above my head the great pine-branches tower; | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Backwards and forwards each to the other bends, | 11 | /˘·/˘···/˘· |
| Beckoning the tempest-cloud which hither wends | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| Like a slow-laboured thought, heavy with power: | 11 | ···/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| Hark to the patter of the coming shower! | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Let me be silent while the Almighty sends | 11 | ···/˘··˘/˘· |
| His thunder-word along--but when it ends | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| I will arise and fashion from the hour | 11 | ··˘/·/˘··/˘ |
| Words of stupendous import, fit to guard | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| High thoughts and purposes, which I may wave, | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| When the temptation cometh close and hard, | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| Like fiery brands betwixt me and the grave | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| Of meaner things--to which I am a slave, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| If evermore I keep not watch and ward. | 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.