The Journey IV
Joy! O joy! the dawning seaAnswers to the dawning sky,Foretaste of the coming gleeWhen the sun will lord it high!See the swelling radiance growingTo a dazzling glory-might!See the shadows gently going'Twixt the wave-tops wild with light!
Hear the smiting billows clang!See the falling billows leanHalf a watery vault, and hangGleaming with translucent green,Then in thousand fleeces fall,Thundering light upon the strand!--This the whiteness which did callThrough the dusk, across the land!
See, a boat! Out, out we dance!Fierce blasts swoop upon my sail!What a terrible expanse--Tumbling hill and heaving dale!Stayless, helpless, lost I float,Captive to the lawless free!But a prison is my boat!Oh, for petrel-wings to flee!
Look below: each watery whirlCast in beauty's living mould!Look above: each feathery curlDropping crimson, dropping gold!--Oh, I tremble in the flushOf the everlasting youth!Love and awe together rush:I am free in God, the Truth!
Words in this poem
- foretaste n.
- A taste beforehand; enjoyment in advance; anticipation.
- glee n.
- Music; minstrelsy; entertainment.
- clang v. t.
- To strike together so as to produce a ringing metallic sound. [L. clangere; akin to Gr. clank.]
- thundering a.
- Emitting thunder.
- swoop v. t.
- To fall on at once and seize; to catch while on the wing; as, a hawk swoops a chicken. [OE. swopen, usually, to sweep, As. swapan to sweep, to rush; akin to G. schweifen to rove, to ramble, to curve, OHG. sweifan to whirl, Icel. sveipa to sweep; al]
- stayless a.
- Without stop or delay. Mir. for Mag.
- mould n.
- Crumbling, soft, friable earth; esp., earth containing the remains or constituents of organic matter, and suited to the growth of plants; soil. [OE. molde, AS. molde; akin to D. mul, G. mull, mulm, OHG. molt, molta, Icel. mold, Dan. muld, Sw. mull, Goth. mulda, and E. meal flour. See Meal, and cf. Mole a]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Journey IV 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 IV, 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-iv.html, id L22256.
Form and metre
The Journey IV is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCDCD. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
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 ABABCDCD seaA · skyB · gleeA · highB · growingC · mightD · goingC · lightD
- 2 ABABCDCD clangA · leanB · hangA · greenB · fallC · strandD · callC · landD
- 3 ABABCDCD danceA · sailB · expanseA · daleB · floatC · freeD · boatC · fleeD
- 4 ABABCDCD whirlA · mouldB · curlA · goldB · flushC · youthD · rushC · truthD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Joy! O joy! the dawning sea | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Answers to the dawning sky, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Foretaste of the coming glee | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| When the sun will lord it high! | 7 | ······· |
| See the swelling radiance growing | 7 | ··/˘/˘/ |
| To a dazzling glory-might! | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| See the shadows gently going | 8 | ··/·/˘/˘ |
| 'Twixt the wave-tops wild with light! | 7 | ······· |
| Hear the smiting billows clang! | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| See the falling billows lean | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Half a watery vault, and hang | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Gleaming with translucent green, | 7 | /˘·˘/˘· |
| Then in thousand fleeces fall, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Thundering light upon the strand!-- | 7 | /˘····· |
| This the whiteness which did call | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Through the dusk, across the land! | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| See, a boat! Out, out we dance! | 7 | ······· |
| Fierce blasts swoop upon my sail! | 7 | ······· |
| What a terrible expanse-- | 7 | ··/˘˘˘/ |
| Tumbling hill and heaving dale! | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Stayless, helpless, lost I float, | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Captive to the lawless free! | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| But a prison is my boat! | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Oh, for petrel-wings to flee! | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Look below: each watery whirl | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Cast in beauty's living mould! | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Look above: each feathery curl | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Dropping crimson, dropping gold!-- | 7 | /˘/˘/˘· |
| Oh, I tremble in the flush | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Of the everlasting youth! | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| Love and awe together rush: | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| I am free in God, the Truth! | 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.