The Old Garden II
I stood in the summer morningUnder a cavernous yew;The sun was gently climbing,And the scents rose after the dew.
I saw the wise old mansion,Like a cow in the noon-day heat,Stand in a lake of shadowsThat rippled about its feet.
Its windows were oriel and latticed,Lowly and wide and fair;And its chimneys like clustered pillarsStood up in the thin blue air.
White doves, like the thoughts of a lady,Haunted it all about;With a train of green and blue cometsThe peacock went marching stout.
The birds in the trees were singingA song as old as the world,Of love and green leaves and sunshine,And winter folded and furled.
They sang that never was sadnessBut it melted and passed away;They sang that never was darknessBut in came the conquering day.
And I knew that a maiden somewhere,In a low oak-panelled room,In a nimbus of shining garments,An aureole of white-browed bloom,
Looked out on the garden dreamy,And knew not it was old;Looked past the gray and the sombre,Saw but the green and the gold,
Words in this poem
- cavernous a.
- Full of caverns; resembling a cavern or large cavity; hollow. [L. cavernosus: cf. F. caverneux.]
- mansion n.
- A dwelling place, -- whether a part or whole of a house or other shelter. [OF. mansion, F. maison, fr. L. mansio a staying, remaining, a dwelling, habitation, fr. manere, mansum, to stay, dwell; akin to Gr. Manse, Manor, Menagerie, Men]
- oriel n.
- A gallery for minstrels. W. Hamper. [OF. oriol gallery, corridor, LL. oriolum portico, hall, prob. fr. L. aureolus gilded, applied to an apartment decorated with gilding. See Oriole.]
- haunted a.
- Inhabited by, or subject to the visits of, apparitions; frequented by a ghost.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
- sadness n.
- Heaviness; firmness.
- somewhere adv.
- In some place unknown or not specified; in one place or another.
- nimbus n.
- A circle, or disk, or any indication of radiant light around the heads of divinities, saints, and sovereigns, upon medals, pictures, etc.; a halo. See Aureola, and Glory, n., 5. [L., a rain storm, a rain cloud, the cloudshaped which enveloped the gods when they appeared on earth.]
- aureole n.
- A celestial crown or accidental glory added to the bliss of heaven, as a reward to those (as virgins, martyrs, preachers, etc.) who have overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil. [F. auréole, fr. L. aureola, (fem adj.) of gold (sc. corona crown), dim. of aureus. See Aureate, Oriole.]
- dreamy a.
- Abounding in dreams or given to dreaming; appropriate to, or like, dreams; visionary.
- sombre n.
- Gloom; obscurity; duskiness; somberness.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Old Garden II 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 Old Garden II, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/the-old-garden-ii.html, id L22389.
Form and metre
The Old Garden II is 32 lines in 8 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 77%).
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 -A-A morning · yewA · climbing · dewA
- 2 -A-A mansion · heatA · shadows · feetA
- 3 -A-A latticed · fairA · pillars · airA
- 4 -A-A lady · aboutA · comets · stoutA
- 5 -A-A singing · worldA · sunshine · furledA
- 6 -A-A sadness · awayA · darkness · dayA
- 7 -A-A somewhere · roomA · garments · bloomA
- 8 -A-A dreamy · oldA · sombre · goldA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I stood in the summer morning | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Under a cavernous yew; | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| The sun was gently climbing, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| And the scents rose after the dew. | 8 | ········ |
| I saw the wise old mansion, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Like a cow in the noon-day heat, | 8 | ········ |
| Stand in a lake of shadows | 7 | ·····/· |
| That rippled about its feet. | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Its windows were oriel and latticed, | 10 | ·/˘·/˘˘·/˘ |
| Lowly and wide and fair; | 6 | /˘···· |
| And its chimneys like clustered pillars | 10 | ··/˘·/˘˘/˘ |
| Stood up in the thin blue air. | 7 | ······· |
| White doves, like the thoughts of a lady, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Haunted it all about; | 6 | /˘···· |
| With a train of green and blue comets | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| The peacock went marching stout. | 7 | ·/··/˘· |
| The birds in the trees were singing | 8 | ······/˘ |
| A song as old as the world, | 7 | ······· |
| Of love and green leaves and sunshine, | 8 | ······/· |
| And winter folded and furled. | 7 | ·/˘/˘·· |
| They sang that never was sadness | 8 | ···/˘·/˘ |
| But it melted and passed away; | 9 | ··/˘··˘˘/ |
| They sang that never was darkness | 8 | ···/˘·/˘ |
| But in came the conquering day. | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| And I knew that a maiden somewhere, | 9 | ·····/˘/· |
| In a low oak-panelled room, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| In a nimbus of shining garments, | 9 | ··/˘·/˘/˘ |
| An aureole of white-browed bloom, | 9 | ·/˘˘···˘· |
| Looked out on the garden dreamy, | 9 | ·˘···/˘/˘ |
| And knew not it was old; | 6 | ······ |
| Looked past the gray and the sombre, | 9 | ·˘·····/˘ |
| Saw but the green and the gold, | 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.