The Sangreal II
Galahad was in the night,And the wood was drear;But to men in darksome plightRadiant things appear:
Wings he heard not floating by,Heard no heavenly hail;But he started with a cry,For he saw the Grail.
Hid from bright beholding sun,Hid from moonlight wan,Lo, from age-long darkness won,It was seen of man!
Three feet off, on cushioned moss,As if cast away,Homely wood with carven cross,Rough and rude it lay!
To his knees the knight rose up,Loosed his gauntlet-band;Fearing, daring, toward the cupWent his naked hand;
When, as if it fled from harm,Sank the holy thing,And his eager following armPlunged into a spring.
Oh the thirst, the water sweet!Down he lay and quaffed,Quaffed and rose up on his feet,Rose and gayly laughed;
Fell upon his knees to thank,Loved and lauded there;Stretched him on the mossy bank,Fell asleep in prayer;
Dreamed, and dreaming murmured lowAve, pater, creed;When the fir-tops gan to glowWaked and called his steed;
Bitted him and drew his girth,Watered from his helm:Happier knight or better worthWas not in the realm!
Belted on him then his sword,Braced his slackened mail;Doubting said: "I dreamed the LordOffered me the Grail."
Words in this poem
- drear n.
- Sadness; dismalness.
- darksome a.
- Dark; gloomy; obscure; shaded; cheerless.
- plight v. t.
- To weave; to braid; to fold; to plait. [OE. pliten; probably through Old French, fr. LL. plectare, L. plectere. See Plait, Ply.]
- beholding a.
- Obliged; beholden.
- homely a.
- Belonging to, or having the characteristics of, home; domestic; familiar; intimate. [From Home, n.]
- carven a.
- Wrought by carving; ornamented by carvings; carved.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- gayly adv.
- With mirth and frolic; merrily; blithely; gleefully.
- thank n.
- A expression of gratitude; an acknowledgment expressive of a sense of favor or kindness received; obligation, claim, or desert, or gratitude; -- now generally used in the plural. [AS. Þanc, Þonc, thanks, favor, thought; akin to OS. thank favor, pleasure, thanks, D. & G. dank thanks, Icel. Þ\'94kk, Dan. tak, Sw. tack, Goth. Þagks thanks; -]
- steed n.
- A horse, especially a spirited horse for state of war; -- used chiefly in poetry or stately prose. [OE. stede, AS. steda a stud-horse, war horse, fr. stod a stud of breeding steeds; akin to G. stute a mare, Icel. stedda, sto, a stud. *163. See Stud of horses.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Sangreal 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 Sangreal 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-sangreal-ii.html, id L22268.
Form and metre
The Sangreal II is 44 lines in 11 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 10 of its 11 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
See other poems in trochaic 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 nightA · drearB · plightA · appearB
- 2 ABAB byA · hailB · cryA · grailB
- 3 A-A- sunA · wan · wonA · man
- 4 ABAB mossA · awayB · crossA · layB
- 5 ABAB upA · bandB · cupA · handB
- 6 ABAB harmA · thingB · armA · springB
- 7 ABAB sweetA · quaffedB · feetA · laughedB
- 8 ABAB thankA · thereB · bankA · prayerB
- 9 ABAB lowA · creedB · glowA · steedB
- 10 ABAB girthA · helmB · worthA · realmB
- 11 ABAB swordA · mailB · lordA · grailB
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Galahad was in the night, | 7 | /˘····· |
| And the wood was drear; | 5 | ····· |
| But to men in darksome plight | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Radiant things appear: | 6 | /˘˘·˘/ |
| Wings he heard not floating by, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Heard no heavenly hail; | 6 | ··/˘˘· |
| But he started with a cry, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| For he saw the Grail. | 5 | ····· |
| Hid from bright beholding sun, | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| Hid from moonlight wan, | 5 | ··/·· |
| Lo, from age-long darkness won, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| It was seen of man! | 5 | ····· |
| Three feet off, on cushioned moss, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| As if cast away, | 5 | ···˘/ |
| Homely wood with carven cross, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Rough and rude it lay! | 5 | ····· |
| To his knees the knight rose up, | 7 | ······· |
| Loosed his gauntlet-band; | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Fearing, daring, toward the cup | 8 | /˘/˘···· |
| Went his naked hand; | 5 | ··/˘· |
| When, as if it fled from harm, | 7 | ······· |
| Sank the holy thing, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| And his eager following arm | 8 | ··/˘/˘˘· |
| Plunged into a spring. | 5 | ····· |
| Oh the thirst, the water sweet! | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Down he lay and quaffed, | 5 | ····· |
| Quaffed and rose up on his feet, | 7 | ······· |
| Rose and gayly laughed; | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Fell upon his knees to thank, | 7 | ······· |
| Loved and lauded there; | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Stretched him on the mossy bank, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Fell asleep in prayer; | 5 | ·˘/·· |
| Dreamed, and dreaming murmured low | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Ave, pater, creed; | 6 | /˘˘/˘· |
| When the fir-tops gan to glow | 7 | ······· |
| Waked and called his steed; | 5 | ····· |
| Bitted him and drew his girth, | 7 | /˘····· |
| Watered from his helm: | 5 | /˘··· |
| Happier knight or better worth | 8 | /˘˘··/˘· |
| Was not in the realm! | 5 | ····· |
| Belted on him then his sword, | 7 | /˘····· |
| Braced his slackened mail; | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Doubting said: "I dreamed the Lord | 7 | /˘····· |
| Offered me the Grail." | 5 | /˘··· |
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.