The Journey I
Hark, the rain is on my roof!Every murmur, through the dark,Stings me with a dull reproofLike a half-extinguished spark.Me! ah me! how came I here,Wide awake and wide alone!Caught within a net of fear,All my dreams undreamed and gone!
I will rise; I will go forth.Better dare the hideous night,Better face the freezing northThan be still, where is no light!Black wind rushing round me now,Sown with arrowy points of rain!Gone are there and then and now--I am here, and so is pain!
Dead in dreams the gloomy street!I will out on open roads.Eager grow my aimless feet--Onward, onward something goads!I will take the mountain path,Beard the storm within its den;Know the worst of this dim wrathHarassing the souls of men.
Chasm 'neath chasm! rock piled on rock!Roots, and crumbling earth, and stones!Hark, the torrent's thundering shock!Hark, the swaying pine tree's groans!Ah! I faint, I fall, I die,Sink to nothingness away!--Lo, a streak upon the sky!Lo, the opening eye of day!
Words in this poem
- reproof n.
- Refutation; confutation; contradiction. [OE. reproef. See Proof, Reprove.]
- undreamed a.
- Not dreamed, or dreamed of; not thof.
- arrowy a.
- Consisting of arrows.
- aimless a.
- Without aim or purpose; as, an aimless life.
- piled a.
- Having a pile or point; pointed. [From 2d Pile.]
- thundering a.
- Emitting thunder.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Journey I 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 Journey I, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/the-journey-i.html, id L22253.
Form and metre
The Journey I is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCDCD, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
See other poems in trochaic 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 ABABC-C- roofA · darkB · reproofA · sparkB · hereC · alone · fearC · gone
- 2 ABABCDCD forthA · nightB · northA · lightB · nowC · rainD · nowC · painD
- 3 ABABCDCD streetA · roadsB · feetA · goadsB · pathC · denD · wrathC · menD
- 4 ABABCDCD rockA · stonesB · shockA · groansB · dieC · awayD · skyC · dayD
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Hark, the rain is on my roof! | 7 | ······· |
| Every murmur, through the dark, | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Stings me with a dull reproof | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Like a half-extinguished spark. | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| Me! ah me! how came I here, | 7 | ······· |
| Wide awake and wide alone! | 7 | ·˘/··˘/ |
| Caught within a net of fear, | 7 | ······· |
| All my dreams undreamed and gone! | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| I will rise; I will go forth. | 7 | ······· |
| Better dare the hideous night, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Better face the freezing north | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Than be still, where is no light! | 7 | ······· |
| Black wind rushing round me now, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Sown with arrowy points of rain! | 8 | ··/˘˘··· |
| Gone are there and then and now-- | 7 | ······· |
| I am here, and so is pain! | 7 | ······· |
| Dead in dreams the gloomy street! | 7 | ····/˘· |
| I will out on open roads. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Eager grow my aimless feet-- | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Onward, onward something goads! | 7 | /˘/˘/˘· |
| I will take the mountain path, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Beard the storm within its den; | 7 | ······· |
| Know the worst of this dim wrath | 7 | ······· |
| Harassing the souls of men. | 7 | ˘/˘···· |
| Chasm 'neath chasm! rock piled on rock! | 9 | /˘·/˘···· |
| Roots, and crumbling earth, and stones! | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Hark, the torrent's thundering shock! | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Hark, the swaying pine tree's groans! | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Ah! I faint, I fall, I die, | 7 | ······· |
| Sink to nothingness away!-- | 7 | ··/˘˘˘/ |
| Lo, a streak upon the sky! | 7 | ······· |
| Lo, the opening eye of day! | 7 | ··/˘··· |
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.