The Consoler: On an Engraving of Scheffer's Christus Consolator III
To speak of him in language of our own,Is not for us too daringly to try;But, Saviour, we can read thy historyUpon the faces round thy humble throne;And as the flower among the grass makes knownWhat summer suns have warmed it from the sky,As every human smile and human sighIs witness that we do not live alone,So in that company--in those sweet tears,The first-born of a rugged melted heart,In those gaunt chains for ever torn apart,And in the words that weeping mother hears,We read the story of two thousand years,And know thee somewhat, Saviour, as thou art.
I cannot write old verses here,Dead things a thousand years away,When all the life of the young yearIs in the summer day.
The roses make the world so sweet,The bees, the birds have such a tune,There's such a light and such a heatAnd such a joy this June,
One must expand one's heart with praise,And make the memory secureOf sunshine and the woodland daysAnd summer twilights pure.
Oh listen rather! Nature's songComes from the waters, beating tides,Green-margined rivers, and the throngOf streams on mountain-sides.
So fair those water-spirits are,Such happy strength their music fills,Our joy shall be to wander farAnd find them on the hills.
Words in this poem
- saviour n.
- One who saves, preserves, or delivers from destruction or danger. [OE. saveour, OF. salveor, F. sauveur, fr. L. salvator to save. See Save, v.]
- gaunt a.
- Attenuated, as with fasting or suffering; lean; meager; pinched and grim. [Cf. Norw. gand a thin pointed stick, a tall and thin man, and W. gwan weak.]
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Consoler: On an Engraving of Scheffer's Christus Consolator III 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 Consoler: On an Engraving of Scheffer's Christus Consolator III, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/the-consoler-on-an-engraving-of-scheffer-s-christus-consolat-3.html, id L22526.
Form and metre
The Consoler: On an Engraving of Scheffer's Christus Consolator III is 34 lines in 6 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 5 of its 6 stanzas. 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 AB-AABBACDDCCD ownA · tryB · history · throneA · knownA · skyB · sighB · aloneA · tearsC · heartD · apartD · hearsC · yearsC · artD
- 2 ABAB hereA · awayB · yearA · dayB
- 3 ABAB sweetA · tuneB · heatA · juneB
- 4 ABAB praiseA · secureB · daysA · pureB
- 5 ABAB songA · tidesB · throngA · sidesB
- 6 ABAB areA · fillsB · farA · hillsB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| To speak of him in language of our own, | 10 | ·····/˘·/· |
| Is not for us too daringly to try; | 10 | ·········· |
| But, Saviour, we can read thy history | 10 | ·/˘····/˘˘ |
| Upon the faces round thy humble throne; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And as the flower among the grass makes known | 10 | ···/······ |
| What summer suns have warmed it from the sky, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| As every human smile and human sigh | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Is witness that we do not live alone, | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| So in that company--in those sweet tears, | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| The first-born of a rugged melted heart, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| In those gaunt chains for ever torn apart, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| And in the words that weeping mother hears, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| We read the story of two thousand years, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And know thee somewhat, Saviour, as thou art. | 10 | ···///˘··· |
| I cannot write old verses here, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Dead things a thousand years away, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| When all the life of the young year | 8 | ········ |
| Is in the summer day. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The roses make the world so sweet, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The bees, the birds have such a tune, | 8 | ········ |
| There's such a light and such a heat | 8 | ········ |
| And such a joy this June, | 6 | ······ |
| One must expand one's heart with praise, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| And make the memory secure | 8 | ···/˘˘˘/ |
| Of sunshine and the woodland days | 8 | ·/···/·· |
| And summer twilights pure. | 6 | ·/˘/·· |
| Oh listen rather! Nature's song | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Comes from the waters, beating tides, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Green-margined rivers, and the throng | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Of streams on mountain-sides. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| So fair those water-spirits are, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Such happy strength their music fills, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Our joy shall be to wander far | 9 | /˘····/˘· |
| And find them on the hills. | 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.