Song
I was very coldIn the summer weather;The sun shone all his gold,But I was very cold--Alas, we were grown old,Love and I together!Oh, but I was coldIn the summer weather!
Sudden I grew warmerThough the brooks were frozen:"Truly, scorn did harm her!"I said, and I grew warmer;"Better men the charmerKnows at least a dozen!"I said, and I grew warmerThough the brooks were frozen.
Spring sits on her nest,Daisies and white clover;And my heart at restLies in the spring's young nest:My love she loves me best,And the frost is over!Spring sits on her nest,Daisies and white clover!
Words in this poem
- charmer n.
- One who charms, or has power to charm; one who uses the power of enchantment; a magician. Deut. xviii. 11.
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-4.html, id L22520.
Form and metre
Song is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAAABAB, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is trochaic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
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.
- 1 ABAAABAB coldA · weatherB · goldA · coldA · oldA · togetherB · coldA · weatherB
- 2 AB-A--AB warmerA · frozenB · her · warmerA · charmer · dozen · warmerA · frozenB
- 3 ABAAABAB nestA · cloverB · restA · nestA · bestA · overB · nestA · cloverB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I was very cold | 5 | ··/˘· |
| In the summer weather; | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| The sun shone all his gold, | 6 | ······ |
| But I was very cold-- | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Alas, we were grown old, | 6 | ˘/···· |
| Love and I together! | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| Oh, but I was cold | 5 | ····· |
| In the summer weather! | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Sudden I grew warmer | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| Though the brooks were frozen: | 6 | ····/˘ |
| "Truly, scorn did harm her!" | 6 | /˘···· |
| I said, and I grew warmer; | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| "Better men the charmer | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| Knows at least a dozen!" | 6 | ····/˘ |
| I said, and I grew warmer | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Though the brooks were frozen. | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Spring sits on her nest, | 5 | ····· |
| Daisies and white clover; | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| And my heart at rest | 5 | ····· |
| Lies in the spring's young nest: | 6 | ······ |
| My love she loves me best, | 6 | ······ |
| And the frost is over! | 6 | ······ |
| Spring sits on her nest, | 5 | ····· |
| Daisies and white clover! | 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.