The Sangreal III
Ere the sun had cast his lightOn the water's face,Firm in saddle rode the knightFrom the holy place,
Merry songs began to sing,Let his matins bide;Rode a good hour pondering,And was turned aside,
Saying, "I will henceforth thenYield this hopeless quest;Tis a dream of holy menThis ideal Best!"
"Every good for miracleHeart devout may hold;Grail indeed was that fair wellFull of water cold!
"Not my thirst alone it stilledBut my soul it stayed;And my heart, with gladness filled,Wept and laughed and prayed!
"Spectral church with cryptic nicheI will seek no more;That the holiest Grail is, whichHelps the need most sore!"
And he spake with speech more trueThan his thought indeed,For not yet the good knight knewHis own sorest need.
Words in this poem
- rode n.
- Redness; complexion. [See Rud.]
- bide v. i.
- To dwell; to inhabit; to abide; to stay. [OE. biden, AS. bidan; akin to OHG. bitan, Goth. beidan, Icel. bi; perh. orig., to wait with trust, and akin to bid. See Bid, v. t., and cf. Abide.]
- henceforth adv.
- From this time forward; henceforward.
- stayed a.
- Staid; fixed; settled; sober; -- now written staid. See Staid.
- cryptic a.
- Hidden; secret; occult.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Sangreal III 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 III, 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-iii.html, id L22269.
Form and metre
The Sangreal III is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is trochaic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
See other poems in trochaic trimeter.
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 lightA · faceB · knightA · placeB
- 2 ABAB singA · bideB · ponderingA · asideB
- 3 ABAB thenA · questB · menA · bestB
- 4 ABAB miracleA · holdB · wellA · coldB
- 5 ABAB stilledA · stayedB · filledA · prayedB
- 6 ABAB nicheA · moreB · whichA · soreB
- 7 ABAB trueA · indeedB · knewA · needB
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Ere the sun had cast his light | 7 | ······· |
| On the water's face, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Firm in saddle rode the knight | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| From the holy place, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Merry songs began to sing, | 7 | /˘·˘/·· |
| Let his matins bide; | 5 | ····· |
| Rode a good hour pondering, | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| And was turned aside, | 5 | ···˘/ |
| Saying, "I will henceforth then | 7 | /˘··//· |
| Yield this hopeless quest; | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Tis a dream of holy men | 7 | ····/˘· |
| This ideal Best!" | 4 | ·˘/· |
| "Every good for miracle | 8 | /˘˘··/˘˘ |
| Heart devout may hold; | 5 | ·˘/·· |
| Grail indeed was that fair well | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| Full of water cold! | 5 | ··/˘· |
| "Not my thirst alone it stilled | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| But my soul it stayed; | 5 | ····· |
| And my heart, with gladness filled, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Wept and laughed and prayed! | 5 | ····· |
| "Spectral church with cryptic niche | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| I will seek no more; | 5 | ····· |
| That the holiest Grail is, which | 8 | ··/˘˘··· |
| Helps the need most sore!" | 5 | ····· |
| And he spake with speech more true | 7 | ······· |
| Than his thought indeed, | 5 | ···˘/ |
| For not yet the good knight knew | 7 | ······· |
| His own sorest need. | 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.