The Aurora Borealis
Now have I grown a sharpness and an edgeUnto my future nights, and I will cutSheer through the ebon gates that yet will shutOn every set of day; or as a sledgeDrawn over snowy plains; where not a hedgeBreaks this Aurora's dancing, nothing butThe one cold Esquimaux' unlikely hutThat swims in the broad moonlight! Lo, a wedgeOf the clean meteor hath been brightly drivenRight home into the fastness of the north!Anon it quickeneth up into the heaven!And I with it have clomb and spreaded forthUpon the crisp and cooling atmosphere!My soul is all abroad: I cannot find it here!
Words in this poem
- ebon a.
- Consisting of ebony.
- snowy a.
- White like snow.
- fastness n.
- The state of being fast and firm; firmness; fixedness; security; faithfulness. [AS. fæstnes, fr. fæst fast. See Fast, a.]
- anon adv.
- Straightway; at once. [OE. anoon, anon, anan, lit., in one (moment), fr. AS. on in + an one. See On and One.]
- cooling a.
- Adapted to cool and refresh; allaying heat.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Aurora Borealis 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, The Aurora Borealis, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/the-aurora-borealis.html, id L22472.
Form and metre
The Aurora Borealis is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
See 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 ABBAABBA-C-CDD edgeA · cutB · shutB · sledgeA · hedgeA · butB · hutB · wedgeA · driven · northC · heaven · forthC · atmosphereD · hereD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Now have I grown a sharpness and an edge | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Unto my future nights, and I will cut | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Sheer through the ebon gates that yet will shut | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| On every set of day; or as a sledge | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Drawn over snowy plains; where not a hedge | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Breaks this Aurora's dancing, nothing but | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| The one cold Esquimaux' unlikely hut | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| That swims in the broad moonlight! Lo, a wedge | 10 | ·····/···· |
| Of the clean meteor hath been brightly driven | 10 | ···/˘··/˘/ |
| Right home into the fastness of the north! | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Anon it quickeneth up into the heaven! | 10 | ˘/·/˘····/ |
| And I with it have clomb and spreaded forth | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Upon the crisp and cooling atmosphere! | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| My soul is all abroad: I cannot find it here! | 12 | ····˘/·/˘··· |
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.