Laurel · George MacDonald · A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems

The Mermaid

George MacDonald (1824–1905) · 1893

iambic tetrameter · ABAB · 76 lines · from A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems

Up cam the tide wi' a burst and a whush,And back gaed the stanes wi' a whurr;The king's son walkit i' the evenin hush,To hear the sea murmur and murr.

Straucht ower the water slade frae the muneA glimmer o' cauld weet licht;Ane o' her horns rase the water abune,And lampit across the nicht.

Quhat's that, and that, far oot i' the gray,The laich mune bobbin afore?It's the bonny sea-maidens at their play--Haud awa, king's son, frae the shore.

Ae rock stude up like an auld aik-root,The king's son he steppit ahin';The bonny sea-maidens cam gambolin oot,Kaimin their hair to the win'.

O merry their lauch whan they fan the warm san',For the lichtsome reel sae meet!Ilk are flang her kaim frae her pearly ban',And tuik til her pearly feet.

But are, wha's beauty was dream and spell,Her kaim on the rock she cuist;Her back was scarce turnt whan the munelicht shellWas lyin i' the prince's breist!

The cluds grew grim as he watched their game,Th' win' blew up an angry tune;Ane efter are tuik up her kaim,And seaward gaed dancin doon.

But are, wi' hair like the mune in a clud,Was left by the rock her lane;Wi' flittin ban's, like a priest's, she stude,'Maist veiled in a rush o' rain.

She spied the prince, she sank at his feet,And lay like a wreath o' snawMeltin awa i' the win' and weetO' a wastin wastlin thaw.

He liftit her, trimlin wi' houp and dreid,And hame wi' his prize he gaed,And laid her doon, like a witherin weed,Saft on a gowden bed.

A' that nicht, and a' day the neist,She never liftit heid;Quaiet lay the sea, and quaiet lay her breist,And quaiet lay the kirkyard-deid.

But quhan at the gloamin a sea-breeze keenBlew intil the glimsome room,Like twa settin stars she opened her een,And the sea-flooer began to bloom.

And she saw the prince kneelin at her bed,And afore the mune was new,Careless and cauld she was wooed and wed--But a winsome wife she grew.

And a' gaed weel till their bairn was born,And syne she cudna sleep;She wud rise at midnicht, and wan'er till morn,Hark-harkin the sough o' the deep.

Ae nicht whan the win' gaed ravin aboot,And the winnocks war speckled wi' faem,Frae room to room she strayt in and oot,And she spied her pearly kaim.

She twined up her hair wi' eager ban's,And in wi' the rainbow kaim!She's oot, and she's aff ower the shinin san'sAnd awa til her moanin hame!

The prince he startit whaur he lay,He waukit, and was himlane!He soucht far intil the mornin gray,But his bonny sea-wife was gane!

And ever and aye, i' the mirk or the mune,Whan the win' blew saft frae the sea,The sad shore up and the sad shore doonBy the lanely rock paced he.

But never again on the sands to playCam the maids o' the merry, cauld sea;He heard them lauch far oot i' the bay,But hert-alane gaed he.

Words in this poem 22

whurr v. i.: To make a rough, humming sound, like one who pronounces the letter r with too much force; to whir; to birr. [Probably of imitative origin. Cf. Hurr, Hurry, Whir.]
murr n.: A catarrh. Gascoigne. [Prob. abbrev. from murrain.]
slade n.: A little dell or valley; a flat piece of low, moist ground. [AS. sl.]
weet v. i.: To know; to wit. Tyndale. [See Wit to know.]
rase v. t.: To rub along the surface of; to graze. [F. raser, LL. rasare to scrape often, v. freq. fr. L. radere, rasum, to scrape, shave; cf. Skr. rad to scratch, gnaw, L. rodere to gnaw. Cf. Raze, Razee, Razor,]
afore prep.: Before (in all its senses).
bonny a.: Handsome; beautiful; pretty; attractively lively and graceful. [OE. boni, prob. fr. F. bon, fem. bonne, good, fr. L. bonus good. See Bounty, and cf. Bonus, Boon.]
auld a.: Old; as, Auld Reekie (old smoky), i. e., Edinburgh. [See Old.]
flang n.: A miner's two-pointed pick.
scarce a.: Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
angry a.: Troublesome; vexatious; rigorous. [See Anger.]
seaward a.: Directed or situated toward the sea. Donne.
veiled a.: Covered by, or as by, a veil; hidden.
thaw v. i.: To melt, dissolve, or become fluid; to soften; -- said of that which is frozen; as, the ice thaws.
winsome a.: Cheerful; merry; gay; light-hearted. [AS. wynsum, fr. wynn joy; akin to OS. wunnia, OHG. wunna, wunni, G. wonne, Goth. wunan to rejoice (in unwunands sad), AS. wunian to dwell. Win, v. t., Wont, a.]
weel: A kind of trap or snare for fish, made of twigs. Carew. [Prov. E. weel, weal, a wicker basket to catch eels; prob. akin to willow, and so called as made of willow twigs.]
syne adv.: Afterwards; since; ago. R. of Brunne. [See Since.]
morn n.: The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
sough n.: A small drain; an adit. W. M. Buchanan. [Etymol. uncertain.]
ravin n.: Food obtained by violence; plunder; prey; raven. [See 2d Raven.]
gane v. i.: To yawn; to gape. [See Yawn.]
mirk a.: Dark; gloomy; murky. Spenser. Mrs. Browning. [See Murky.]

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

The Mermaid 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 Mermaid, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/the-mermaid.html, id L22538.

Form and metre

The Mermaid is 76 lines in 19 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 13 of its 19 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 74%).

See 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 ABAB whush^A · whurr^B · hush^A · murr^B
2 ABAB mune^A · licht^B · abune^A · nicht^B
3 A-A- gray^A · afore · play^A · shore
4 A-A- root^A · ahin · oot^A · win
5 ABAB san^A · meet^B · ban^A · feet^B
6 A-A- spell^A · cuist · shell^A · breist
7 ABAB game^A · tune^B · kaim^A · doon^B
8 -A-A clud · lane^A · stude · rain^A
9 ABAB feet^A · snaw^B · weet^A · thaw^B
11 ABAB neist^A · heid^B · breist^A · deid^B
12 ABAB keen^A · room^B · een^A · bloom^B
13 ABAB bed^A · new^B · wed^A · grew^B
14 ABAB born^A · sleep^B · morn^A · deep^B
15 A-A- aboot^A · faem · oot^A · kaim
16 ABAB ban's^A · kaim^B · san's^A · hame^B
17 ABAB lay^A · himlane^B · gray^A · gane^B
18 ABAB mune^A · sea^B · doon^A · he^B
19 ABAB play^A · sea^B · bay^A · he^B

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
Up cam the tide wi' a burst and a whush,	10	··········
And back gaed the stanes wi' a whurr;	8	········
The king's son walkit i' the evenin hush,	11	···········
To hear the sea murmur and murr.	8	····/˘··
Straucht ower the water slade frae the mune	10	····/˘····
A glimmer o' cauld weet licht;	7	·/˘····
Ane o' her horns rase the water abune,	10	······/˘··
And lampit across the nicht.	7	···˘/··
Quhat's that, and that, far oot i' the gray,	10	··········
The laich mune bobbin afore?	7	···/˘˘/
It's the bonny sea-maidens at their play--	10	··/˘·/˘···
Haud awa, king's son, frae the shore.	8	········
Ae rock stude up like an auld aik-root,	9	·········
The king's son he steppit ahin';	8	········
The bonny sea-maidens cam gambolin oot,	11	·/˘·/˘·····
Kaimin their hair to the win'.	7	·······
O merry their lauch whan they fan the warm san',	11	·/˘········
For the lichtsome reel sae meet!	7	·······
Ilk are flang her kaim frae her pearly ban',	10	·······/˘·
And tuik til her pearly feet.	7	····/˘·
But are, wha's beauty was dream and spell,	9	···/˘····
Her kaim on the rock she cuist;	7	·······
Her back was scarce turnt whan the munelicht shell	11	···········
Was lyin i' the prince's breist!	7	····/˘·
The cluds grew grim as he watched their game,	10	·······˘··
Th' win' blew up an angry tune;	7	····/˘·
Ane efter are tuik up her kaim,	8	········
And seaward gaed dancin doon.	7	·/˘····
But are, wi' hair like the mune in a clud,	10	··········
Was left by the rock her lane;	7	·······
Wi' flittin ban's, like a priest's, she stude,	9	·········
'Maist veiled in a rush o' rain.	7	·······
She spied the prince, she sank at his feet,	9	·········
And lay like a wreath o' snaw	7	·······
Meltin awa i' the win' and weet	9	·········
O' a wastin wastlin thaw.	7	·······
He liftit her, trimlin wi' houp and dreid,	10	··········
And hame wi' his prize he gaed,	7	·······
And laid her doon, like a witherin weed,	10	··········
Saft on a gowden bed.	6	···/˘·
A' that nicht, and a' day the neist,	8	········
She never liftit heid;	6	·/˘···
Quaiet lay the sea, and quaiet lay her breist,	9	·········
And quaiet lay the kirkyard-deid.	7	····/˘·
But quhan at the gloamin a sea-breeze keen	11	···········
Blew intil the glimsome room,	7	·······
Like twa settin stars she opened her een,	10	······/˘··
And the sea-flooer began to bloom.	8	····˘/··
And she saw the prince kneelin at her bed,	10	··········
And afore the mune was new,	7	·˘/····
Careless and cauld she was wooed and wed--	10	/˘·····˘··
But a winsome wife she grew.	7	··/˘···
And a' gaed weel till their bairn was born,	9	·········
And syne she cudna sleep;	6	······
She wud rise at midnicht, and wan'er till morn,	11	·······/˘··
Hark-harkin the sough o' the deep.	8	·/˘·····
Ae nicht whan the win' gaed ravin aboot,	10	······/˘··
And the winnocks war speckled wi' faem,	10	·····/˘˘··
Frae room to room she strayt in and oot,	9	·········
And she spied her pearly kaim.	7	····/˘·
She twined up her hair wi' eager ban's,	10	··˘····/˘·
And in wi' the rainbow kaim!	7	····/··
She's oot, and she's aff ower the shinin san's	11	···········
And awa til her moanin hame!	8	········
The prince he startit whaur he lay,	8	········
He waukit, and was himlane!	7	·······
He soucht far intil the mornin gray,	9	·········
But his bonny sea-wife was gane!	8	··/˘····
And ever and aye, i' the mirk or the mune,	10	·/········
Whan the win' blew saft frae the sea,	8	········
The sad shore up and the sad shore doon	9	·········
By the lanely rock paced he.	9	·······˘·
But never again on the sands to play	10	·/˘˘/·····
Cam the maids o' the merry, cauld sea;	9	·····/˘··
He heard them lauch far oot i' the bay,	9	·········
But hert-alane gaed he.	6	··˘/··

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.

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