The Prism II
How oft have I laid fold from foldAnd peered into my mind--To see of all the purple and goldNot one gleam left behind!
The best of gifts will not be stored:The manna of yesterdayHas filled no sacred miser-hoardTo keep new need away.
Thy grace, O Lord, it is thyself;Thy presence is thy light;I cannot lay it on my shelf,Or take it from thy sight.
For daily bread we daily pray--The want still breeds the cry;And so we meet, day after day,Thou, Father in heaven, and I.
Is my house dreary, wall and floor,Will not the darkness flit,I go outside my shadowy doorAnd in thy rainbow sit.
Words in this poem
- dreary a.
- Sorrowful; distressful. [OE. dreori, dreri, AS. dreórig, sad; akin to G. traurig, and prob. to AS. dreósan to fall, Goth. driusan. Cf. Dross, Drear, Drizzle, Drowse.]
- flit a.
- Nimble; quick; swift. See Fleet.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Prism 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 Prism 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-prism-ii.html, id L22410.
Form and metre
The Prism II is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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 ABAB foldA · mindB · goldA · behindB
- 2 ABAB storedA · yesterdayB · hoardA · awayB
- 3 ABAB thyselfA · lightB · shelfA · sightB
- 4 ABAB prayA · cryB · dayA · iB
- 5 ABAB floorA · flitB · doorA · sitB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| How oft have I laid fold from fold | 8 | ········ |
| And peered into my mind-- | 6 | ······ |
| To see of all the purple and gold | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Not one gleam left behind! | 6 | ······ |
| The best of gifts will not be stored: | 8 | ········ |
| The manna of yesterday | 7 | ·/˘·/˘˘ |
| Has filled no sacred miser-hoard | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| To keep new need away. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Thy grace, O Lord, it is thyself; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Thy presence is thy light; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| I cannot lay it on my shelf, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Or take it from thy sight. | 6 | ······ |
| For daily bread we daily pray-- | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The want still breeds the cry; | 6 | ······ |
| And so we meet, day after day, | 8 | ········ |
| Thou, Father in heaven, and I. | 8 | ·/˘·/˘·· |
| Is my house dreary, wall and floor, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Will not the darkness flit, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I go outside my shadowy door | 8 | ··//·/˘· |
| And in thy rainbow sit. | 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.