The Dawn
And must I ever wake, gray dawn, to knowThee standing sadly by me like a ghost?I am perplexed with thee that thou shouldst costThis earth another turning! All aglowThou shouldst have reached me, with a purple showAlong far mountain-tops! and I would postOver the breadth of seas, though I were lostIn the hot phantom-chase for life, if soThou earnest ever with this numbing senseOf chilly distance and unlovely light,Waking this gnawing soul anew to fightWith its perpetual load: I drive thee hence!I have another mountain-range from whenceBursteth a sun unutterably bright!
Words in this poem
- sadly adv.
- Wearily; heavily; firmly.
- ghost n.
- The spirit; the soul of man. [OE. gast, gost, soul, spirit, AS. gast breath, spirit, soul; akin to OS. g spirit, soul, D. geest, G. geist, and prob. to E. gaze, ghastly.]
- aglow adv.
- In a glow; glowing; as, cheeks aglow; the landscape all aglow. [Pref. a- + glow.]
- unlovely a.
- Not lovely; not amiable; possessing qualities that excite dislike; disagreeable; displeasing; unpleasant.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Dawn 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 Dawn, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/the-dawn.html, id L22447.
Form and metre
The Dawn is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABCAABCADEEDDE. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
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 ABCAABCADEEDDE knowA · ghostB · costC · aglowA · showA · postB · lostC · soA · senseD · lightE · fightE · henceD · whenceD · brightE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| And must I ever wake, gray dawn, to know | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Thee standing sadly by me like a ghost? | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| I am perplexed with thee that thou shouldst cost | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| This earth another turning! All aglow | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Thou shouldst have reached me, with a purple show | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Along far mountain-tops! and I would post | 10 | ˘/·/˘····· |
| Over the breadth of seas, though I were lost | 10 | ·········· |
| In the hot phantom-chase for life, if so | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Thou earnest ever with this numbing sense | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Of chilly distance and unlovely light, | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| Waking this gnawing soul anew to fight | 10 | /˘·/˘·˘/·· |
| With its perpetual load: I drive thee hence! | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| I have another mountain-range from whence | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| Bursteth a sun unutterably bright! | 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.