Reverence Waking Hope
A power is on me, and my soul must speakTo thee, thou grey, grey man, whom I beholdWith those white-headed children. I am boldTo commune with thy setting, and to wreakMy doubts on thy grey hair; for I would seekThee in that other world, but I am toldThou goest elsewhere and wilt never holdThy head so high as now. Oh I were weak,Weak even to despair, could I foregoThe tender vision which will give somehowThee standing brightly one day even as now!Thou art a very grey old man, and soI may not pass thee darkly, but bestowA look of reverence on thy wrinkled brow.
Words in this poem
- commune n.
- The commonalty; the common people. [F., fr. commun. See Common.]
- wreak v. i.
- To reck; to care.
- forego v. t.
- To quit; to relinquish; to leave. [See Forgo.]
- somehow adv.
- In one way or another; in some way not yet known or designated; by some means; as, the thing must be done somehow; he lives somehow.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Reverence Waking Hope 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, Reverence Waking Hope, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/reverence-waking-hope.html, id L22475.
Form and metre
Reverence Waking Hope 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 86%).
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 speakA · beholdB · boldB · wreakA · seekA · toldB · holdB · weakA · foregoC · somehowD · nowD · soC · bestowC · browD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A power is on me, and my soul must speak | 10 | ·/········ |
| To thee, thou grey, grey man, whom I behold | 10 | ········˘/ |
| With those white-headed children. I am bold | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| To commune with thy setting, and to wreak | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| My doubts on thy grey hair; for I would seek | 10 | ·········· |
| Thee in that other world, but I am told | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Thou goest elsewhere and wilt never hold | 9 | ··/···/˘· |
| Thy head so high as now. Oh I were weak, | 10 | ·········· |
| Weak even to despair, could I forego | 10 | ·/˘·˘/··˘/ |
| The tender vision which will give somehow | 10 | ·/˘/˘···/· |
| Thee standing brightly one day even as now! | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/·· |
| Thou art a very grey old man, and so | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| I may not pass thee darkly, but bestow | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| A look of reverence on thy wrinkled brow. | 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.