Song
She loves thee, loves thee not!That, that is all, my heart.Why should she take a partIn every selfish blot,In every greedy spotThat now doth ache and smartBecause she loves thee not--Not, not at all, poor heart!
Thou art no such dove-cotOf virtues--no such chartOf highways, though the dartOf love be through thee shot!Why should she not love notThee, poor, pinched, selfish heart?
Words in this poem
- ache n.
- A name given to several species of plants; as, smallage, wild celery, parsley. Holland. [F. ache, L. apium parsley.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Song 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, Song, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/song-2.html, id L22372.
Form and metre
Song is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
See other poems in iambic 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.
- 1 ABBAABAB notA · heartB · partB · blotA · spotA · smartB · notA · heartB
- 2 ABBAAB cotA · chartB · dartB · shotA · notA · heartB
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| She loves thee, loves thee not! | 6 | ······ |
| That, that is all, my heart. | 6 | ······ |
| Why should she take a part | 6 | ······ |
| In every selfish blot, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| In every greedy spot | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| That now doth ache and smart | 6 | ······ |
| Because she loves thee not-- | 6 | ······ |
| Not, not at all, poor heart! | 6 | ······ |
| Thou art no such dove-cot | 6 | ······ |
| Of virtues--no such chart | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Of highways, though the dart | 6 | ·/···· |
| Of love be through thee shot! | 6 | ······ |
| Why should she not love not | 6 | ······ |
| Thee, poor, pinched, selfish heart? | 6 | ···/˘· |
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.