The Home of Death
"Death, whaur do ye bide, auld Death?""I bide in ilka breath,"Quo' Death;"No i' the pyramids,No whaur the wormie rids'Neth coffin-lids;I bidena whaur life has been,An' whaur's nae mair to be dune."
"Death, whaur do ye bide, auld Death?""Wi' the leevin, to dee 'at are laith,"Quo' Death;"Wi' the man an' the wife'At loo like life,Bot strife;Wi' the bairns 'at hing to their mither,Wi' a' 'at loo ane anither."
"Death, whaur do ye bide, auld Death?""Abune an' aboot an' aneth,"Quo' Death;"But o' a' the airtsAn' o' a' the pairts,In herts--Whan the tane to the tither says, Na,An' the north win' begins to blaw."
Words in this poem
- bide v. i.
- To dwell; to inhabit; to abide; to stay. [OE. biden, AS. bidan; akin to OHG. bitan, Goth. beidan, Icel. bi; perh. orig., to wait with trust, and akin to bid. See Bid, v. t., and cf. Abide.]
- auld a.
- Old; as, Auld Reekie (old smoky), i. e., Edinburgh. [See Old.]
- dune n.
- A low hill of drifting sand usually formed on the coats, but often carried far inland by the prevailing winds. [The same word as down: cf. D. duin. See Down a bank of sand.]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- tither n.
- One who collects tithes.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Home of Death 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 Home of Death, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/the-home-of-death.html, id L22555.
Form and metre
The Home of Death is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 58% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 AAABBB-- deathA · breathA · deathA · pyramidsB · ridsB · lidsB · been · dune
- 2 AAABBBCC deathA · laithA · deathA · wifeB · lifeB · strifeB · mitherC · anitherC
- 3 AAABB--- deathA · anethA · deathA · airtsB · pairtsB · herts · na · blaw
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 |
|---|---|---|
| "Death, whaur do ye bide, auld Death?" | 7 | ······· |
| "I bide in ilka breath," | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Quo' Death; | 2 | ·· |
| "No i' the pyramids, | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| No whaur the wormie rids | 6 | ······ |
| 'Neth coffin-lids; | 4 | ·/˘· |
| I bidena whaur life has been, | 8 | ········ |
| An' whaur's nae mair to be dune." | 7 | ······· |
| "Death, whaur do ye bide, auld Death?" | 7 | ······· |
| "Wi' the leevin, to dee 'at are laith," | 9 | ········· |
| Quo' Death; | 2 | ·· |
| "Wi' the man an' the wife | 6 | ······ |
| 'At loo like life, | 4 | ···· |
| Bot strife; | 2 | ·· |
| Wi' the bairns 'at hing to their mither, | 9 | ········· |
| Wi' a' 'at loo ane anither." | 8 | ········ |
| "Death, whaur do ye bide, auld Death?" | 7 | ······· |
| "Abune an' aboot an' aneth," | 8 | ········ |
| Quo' Death; | 2 | ·· |
| "But o' a' the airts | 5 | ····· |
| An' o' a' the pairts, | 5 | ····· |
| In herts-- | 2 | ·· |
| Whan the tane to the tither says, Na, | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| An' the north win' begins to blaw." | 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.