The Dead Hand
The witch lady walked along the strand,Heard a roaring of the sea,On the edge of a pool saw a dead man's hand,Good thing for a witch lady!
Lightly she stepped across the rocks,Came where the dead man lay:Now pretty maid with your merry mocks,Now I shall have my way!
On a finger shone a sapphire blueIn the heart of six rubies red:Come back to me, my promise true,Come back, my ring, she said.
She took the dead hand in the live,And at the ring drew she;The dead hand closed its fingers five,And it held the witch lady.
She swore the storm was not her deed,Dark spells she backward spoke;If the dead man heard he took no heed,But held like a cloven oak.
Deathly cold, crept up the tide,Sure of her, made no haste;Crept up to her knees, crept up each side,Crept up to her wicked waist.
Over the blue sea sailed the brideIn her love's own sailing ship,And the witch she saw them across the tideAs it rose to her lying lip.
Oh, the heart of the dead and the hand of the deadAre strong hasps they to hold!Fled the true dove with the kite's new love,And left the false kite with the old.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- deathly a.
- Deadly; fatal; mortal; destructive.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Dead Hand 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 Dead Hand, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/the-dead-hand.html, id L22297.
Form and metre
The Dead Hand is 32 lines in 8 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 5 of its 8 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%).
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 A-A- strandA · sea · handA · lady
- 2 ABAB rocksA · layB · mocksA · wayB
- 3 ABAB blueA · redB · trueA · saidB
- 4 A-A- liveA · she · fiveA · lady
- 5 ABAB deedA · spokeB · heedA · oakB
- 6 ABAB tideA · hasteB · sideA · waistB
- 7 ABAB brideA · shipB · tideA · lipB
- 8 -A-A dead · holdA · love · oldA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The witch lady walked along the strand, | 10 | ··/˘·˘˘/·· |
| Heard a roaring of the sea, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| On the edge of a pool saw a dead man's hand, | 11 | ··········· |
| Good thing for a witch lady! | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Lightly she stepped across the rocks, | 9 | /˘··˘˘/·· |
| Came where the dead man lay: | 6 | ······ |
| Now pretty maid with your merry mocks, | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| Now I shall have my way! | 6 | ······ |
| On a finger shone a sapphire blue | 10 | ··/˘··/˘˘· |
| In the heart of six rubies red: | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Come back to me, my promise true, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Come back, my ring, she said. | 6 | ······ |
| She took the dead hand in the live, | 8 | ········ |
| And at the ring drew she; | 6 | ······ |
| The dead hand closed its fingers five, | 9 | ····˘·/˘· |
| And it held the witch lady. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| She swore the storm was not her deed, | 8 | ········ |
| Dark spells she backward spoke; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| If the dead man heard he took no heed, | 9 | ········· |
| But held like a cloven oak. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Deathly cold, crept up the tide, | 7 | /˘····· |
| Sure of her, made no haste; | 6 | ······ |
| Crept up to her knees, crept up each side, | 9 | ········· |
| Crept up to her wicked waist. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Over the blue sea sailed the bride | 9 | ······˘·· |
| In her love's own sailing ship, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And the witch she saw them across the tide | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| As it rose to her lying lip. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Oh, the heart of the dead and the hand of the dead | 12 | ············ |
| Are strong hasps they to hold! | 6 | ······ |
| Fled the true dove with the kite's new love, | 9 | ········· |
| And left the false kite with the old. | 8 | ········ |
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.