The Sangreal V
Up the quest again he took,Rode through wood and wave;Sought in many a mossy nook,Many a hermit-cave;
Sought until the evening redSunk in shadow deep;Sought until the moonlight fled;Slept, and sought in sleep.
Where he wandered, seeking, sad,Story doth not say,But at length sir GalahadFound it on a day;
Took the Grail with holy hand,Had the cup of joy;Carried it about the land,Gleesome as a boy;
Laid his sword where he had foundBoot for every bale,Stuck his spear into the ground,Kept alone the Grail.
Words in this poem
- rode n.
- Redness; complexion. [See Rud.]
- nook n.
- A narrow place formed by an angle in bodies or between bodies; a corner; a recess; a secluded retreat. [OE. nok; cf. Gael. & Ir. niuc.]
- gleesome a.
- Merry; joyous; gleeful.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Sangreal V 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 V, 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-v.html, id L22271.
Form and metre
The Sangreal V is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
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 tookA · waveB · nookA · caveB
- 2 ABAB redA · deepB · fledA · sleepB
- 3 ABAB sadA · sayB · galahadA · dayB
- 4 ABAB handA · joyB · landA · boyB
- 5 ABAB foundA · baleB · groundA · 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Up the quest again he took, | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| Rode through wood and wave; | 5 | ····· |
| Sought in many a mossy nook, | 7 | ··/·/˘· |
| Many a hermit-cave; | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| Sought until the evening red | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Sunk in shadow deep; | 5 | ··/·· |
| Sought until the moonlight fled; | 7 | ····/·· |
| Slept, and sought in sleep. | 5 | ····· |
| Where he wandered, seeking, sad, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Story doth not say, | 5 | /˘··· |
| But at length sir Galahad | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Found it on a day; | 5 | ····· |
| Took the Grail with holy hand, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Had the cup of joy; | 5 | ····· |
| Carried it about the land, | 7 | /˘····· |
| Gleesome as a boy; | 5 | /˘··· |
| Laid his sword where he had found | 7 | ······· |
| Boot for every bale, | 6 | ··/˘˘· |
| Stuck his spear into the ground, | 7 | ······· |
| Kept alone 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.