The Lost House
Out of thy door I run to do the thingThat calls upon me. Straight the wind of wordsWhoops from mine ears the sounds of them that singAbout their work, "My God, my father-king!"
I turn in haste to see thy blessed door,But, lo, a cloud of flies and bats and birds,And stalking vapours, and vague monster-herdsHave risen and lighted, rushed and swollen between!
Ah me! the house of peace is there no more.Was it a dream then?--Walls, fireside, and floor,And sweet obedience, loving, calm, and free,Are vanished--gone as they had never been!
I labour groaning. Comes a sudden sheen!--And I am kneeling at my father's knee,Sighing with joy, and hoping utterly.
Words in this poem
- rushed a.
- Abounding or covered with rushes.
- fireside n.
- A place near the fire or hearth; home; domestic life or retirement.
- sheen v. i.
- To shine; to glisten.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Lost House 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 Lost House, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/the-lost-house.html, id L22419.
Form and metre
The Lost House is 15 lines in 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 ABAA thingA · wordsB · singA · kingA
- 2 CBBD doorC · birdsB · herdsB · betweenD
- 3 CCE- moreC · floorC · freeE · been
- 4 DE- sheenD · kneeE · utterly
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Out of thy door I run to do the thing | 10 | ·········· |
| That calls upon me. Straight the wind of words | 10 | ·········· |
| Whoops from mine ears the sounds of them that sing | 10 | ·········· |
| About their work, "My God, my father-king!" | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| I turn in haste to see thy blessed door, | 10 | ········˘· |
| But, lo, a cloud of flies and bats and birds, | 10 | ·········· |
| And stalking vapours, and vague monster-herds | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Have risen and lighted, rushed and swollen between! | 12 | ·/˘·/˘··/˘·· |
| Ah me! the house of peace is there no more. | 10 | ·········· |
| Was it a dream then?--Walls, fireside, and floor, | 11 | ······/˘··· |
| And sweet obedience, loving, calm, and free, | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| Are vanished--gone as they had never been! | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| I labour groaning. Comes a sudden sheen!-- | 10 | ·/·/˘··/˘· |
| And I am kneeling at my father's knee, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Sighing with joy, and hoping utterly. | 10 | /˘···/˘/˘˘ |
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.