The Old Garden VI
Shall I stay to look on her nearer?Would she start and vanish away?Oh, no, she will never see me,Stand I near as I may!
It is not this wind she is feeling,Not this cool grass below;'Tis the wind and the grass of an eveningA hundred years ago.
She sees no roses darkling,No stately hollyhocks dim;She is only thinking and dreamingThe garden, the night, and him,
The unlit windows behind her,The timeless dial-stone,The trees, and the moon, and the shadowsA hundred years agone!
'Tis a night for a ghostly loverTo haunt the best-loved spot:Is he come in his dreams to this garden?I gaze, but I see him not.
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- darkling a.
- Becoming dark or gloomy; frowing.
- timeless a.
- Done at an improper time; unseasonable; untimely.
- ghostly a.
- Relating to the soul; not carnal or secular; spiritual; as, a ghostly confessor. [OE. gastlich, gostlich, AS. gastlic. See Ghost.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Old Garden VI 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 VI, 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-vi.html, id L22393.
Form and metre
The Old Garden VI is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 79%).
See other poems in common measure.
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 nearer · awayA · me · mayA
- 2 -A-A feeling · belowA · evening · agoA
- 3 ABAB darklingA · dimB · dreamingA · himB
- 4 -A-A her · stoneA · shadows · agoneA
- 5 -A-A lover · spotA · garden · notA
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Shall I stay to look on her nearer? | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Would she start and vanish away? | 8 | ····/˘˘/ |
| Oh, no, she will never see me, | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| Stand I near as I may! | 6 | ······ |
| It is not this wind she is feeling, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Not this cool grass below; | 6 | ······ |
| 'Tis the wind and the grass of an evening | 10 | ········/˘ |
| A hundred years ago. | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| She sees no roses darkling, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| No stately hollyhocks dim; | 7 | ·/˘/˘·· |
| She is only thinking and dreaming | 9 | ··/˘/˘·/˘ |
| The garden, the night, and him, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| The unlit windows behind her, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The timeless dial-stone, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| The trees, and the moon, and the shadows | 9 | ·······/· |
| A hundred years agone! | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| 'Tis a night for a ghostly lover | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| To haunt the best-loved spot: | 6 | ······ |
| Is he come in his dreams to this garden? | 10 | ········/˘ |
| I gaze, but I see him not. | 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.