Riddles II
There is a plough that hath no share,Only a coulter that parteth fair;But the ridges they riseTo a terrible sizeOr ever the coulter comes near to tear:The horses and ridges fierce battle make;The horses are safe, but the plough may break.
Seed cast in its furrows, or green or sear,Will lift to the sun neither blade nor ear:Down it drops plumbWhere no spring-times come,Nor needeth it any harrowing gear;Wheat nor poppy nor blade has been foundAble to grow on the naked ground.
About this text
Riddles 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, Riddles II, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/riddles-ii.html, id L22339.
Form and metre
Riddles II is 14 lines in 2 stanzas of 7 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABBACC. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 AABBACC shareA · fairA · riseB · sizeB · tearA · makeC · breakC
- 2 AABBACC searA · earA · plumbB · comeB · gearA · foundC · groundC
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| There is a plough that hath no share, | 8 | ········ |
| Only a coulter that parteth fair; | 9 | /˘·/˘·/˘· |
| But the ridges they rise | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| To a terrible size | 6 | ··/˘˘· |
| Or ever the coulter comes near to tear: | 10 | ·/˘·/˘···· |
| The horses and ridges fierce battle make; | 10 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘· |
| The horses are safe, but the plough may break. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Seed cast in its furrows, or green or sear, | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| Will lift to the sun neither blade nor ear: | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Down it drops plumb | 4 | ···· |
| Where no spring-times come, | 5 | ····· |
| Nor needeth it any harrowing gear; | 10 | ·/˘·/˘/˘˘· |
| Wheat nor poppy nor blade has been found | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| Able to grow on the naked ground. | 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.