The Lark and the Wind
In the air why such a ringing?On the earth why such a droning?
In the air the lark is singing;On the earth the wind is moaning.
"I am blest, in sunlight swinging!""Sad am I: the world lies groaning!"
In the sky the lark kept singing;On the earth the wind kept moaning.
About this text
The Lark and the Wind 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 Lark and the Wind, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/the-lark-and-the-wind.html, id L22285.
Form and metre
The Lark and the Wind is 8 lines in 4 stanzas of 2 lines each. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
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.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| In the air why such a ringing? | 8 | ······/˘ |
| On the earth why such a droning? | 8 | ······/˘ |
| In the air the lark is singing; | 8 | ······/˘ |
| On the earth the wind is moaning. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| "I am blest, in sunlight swinging!" | 8 | ····/·/˘ |
| "Sad am I: the world lies groaning!" | 8 | ······/˘ |
| In the sky the lark kept singing; | 8 | ······/˘ |
| On the earth the wind kept moaning. | 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.