The Pinafore
When peevish flaws his soul have stirredTo fretful tears for crossed desires,Obedient to his mother's wordMy child to banishment retires.
As disappears the moon, when windHeaps miles of mist her visage o'er,So vanisheth his face behindThe cloud of his white pinafore.
I cannot then come near my child--A gulf between of gainful loss;He to the infinite exiled--I waiting, for I cannot cross.
Ah then, what wonder, passing show,The Isis-veil behind it brings--Like that self-coffined creatures know,Remembering legs, foreseeing wings!
Mysterious moment! When or howIs the bewildering change begun?Hid in far deeps the awful nowWhen turns his being to the sun!
A light goes up behind his eyes,A still small voice behind his ears;A listing wind about him sighs,And lo the inner landscape clears!
Hid by that screen, a wondrous shineIs gathering for a sweet surprise;As Moses grew, in dark divine,Too radiant for his people's eyes.
For when the garment sinks again,Outbeams a brow of heavenly wile,Clear as a morning after rain,And sunny with a perfect smile.
Oh, would that I the secret knewOf hiding from my evil part,And turning to the lovely trueThe open windows of my heart!
Lord, in thy skirt, love's tender gaol,Hide thou my selfish heart's disgrace;Fill me with light, and then unveilTo friend and foe a friendly face.
Words in this poem
- visage n.
- The face, countenance, or look of a person or an animal; -- chiefly applied to the human face. [F. visage, from L. visus a seeing, a look, fr. videre, visum, to see. See Vision.]
- pinafore n.
- An apron for a child to protect the front part of dress; a tier. [Pin + afore.]
- bewildering a.
- Causing bewilderment or great perplexity; as, bewildering difficulties.
- listing n.
- The act or process of one who lists (in any sense of the verb); as, the listing of a door; the listing of a stock at the Stock Exchange.
- wondrous adv.
- In a wonderful or surprising manner or degree; wonderfully. [OE. wonders, adv. (later also adj.). See Wonder, n., and cf. -wards.]
- wile n.
- A trick or stratagem practiced for insnaring or deception; a sly, insidious; artifice; a beguilement; an allurement. [OE. wile, AS. wil; cf. Icel. v, væl. Cf. Guile.]
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- unveil v. t.
- To remove a veil from; to divest of a veil; to uncover; to disclose to view; to reveal; as, she unveiled her face. [1st pref. un- + veil.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Pinafore 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 Pinafore, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/the-pinafore.html, id L22408.
Form and metre
The Pinafore is 40 lines in 10 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 8 of its 10 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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 stirredA · desiresB · wordA · retiresB
- 2 A-A- windA · o'er · behindA · pinafore
- 3 ABAB childA · lossB · exiledA · crossB
- 4 ABAB showA · bringsB · knowA · wingsB
- 5 ABAB howA · begunB · nowA · sunB
- 6 ABAB eyesA · earsB · sighsA · clearsB
- 7 ABAB shineA · surpriseB · divineA · eyesB
- 8 ABAB againA · wileB · rainA · smileB
- 9 ABAB knewA · partB · trueA · heartB
- 10 -A-A gaol · disgraceA · unveil · faceA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When peevish flaws his soul have stirred | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| To fretful tears for crossed desires, | 9 | ·/˘···˘/˘ |
| Obedient to his mother's word | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| My child to banishment retires. | 8 | ···/˘˘˘/ |
| As disappears the moon, when wind | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Heaps miles of mist her visage o'er, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| So vanisheth his face behind | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| The cloud of his white pinafore. | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| I cannot then come near my child-- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A gulf between of gainful loss; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| He to the infinite exiled-- | 8 | ···/˘˘/· |
| I waiting, for I cannot cross. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Ah then, what wonder, passing show, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| The Isis-veil behind it brings-- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Like that self-coffined creatures know, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Remembering legs, foreseeing wings! | 8 | ˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| Mysterious moment! When or how | 8 | ˘/˘/˘··· |
| Is the bewildering change begun? | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
| Hid in far deeps the awful now | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| When turns his being to the sun! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A light goes up behind his eyes, | 8 | ········ |
| A still small voice behind his ears; | 8 | ········ |
| A listing wind about him sighs, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And lo the inner landscape clears! | 8 | ···/˘/·· |
| Hid by that screen, a wondrous shine | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Is gathering for a sweet surprise; | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| As Moses grew, in dark divine, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Too radiant for his people's eyes. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| For when the garment sinks again, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Outbeams a brow of heavenly wile, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Clear as a morning after rain, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And sunny with a perfect smile. | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| Oh, would that I the secret knew | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Of hiding from my evil part, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And turning to the lovely true | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The open windows of my heart! | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Lord, in thy skirt, love's tender gaol, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Hide thou my selfish heart's disgrace; | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Fill me with light, and then unveil | 8 | ······˘/ |
| To friend and foe a friendly face. | 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.