The Thankless Lady
It is May, and the moon leans down at nightOver a blossomy land;Leans from her window a lady white,With her cheek upon her hand.
"Oh, why in the blue so misty, moon?Why so dull in the sky?Thou look'st like one that is ready to swoonBecause her tear-well is dry.
"Enough, enough of longing and wail!Oh, bird, I pray thee, be glad!Sing to me once, dear nightingale,The old song, merry mad.
"Hold, hold with thy blossoming, colourless, cold,Apple-tree white as woe!Blossom yet once with the blossom of old,Let the roses shine through the snow!"
The moon and the blossoms they gloomily gleam,The bird will not be glad:The dead never speak when the mournful dream,They are too weak and sad.
Listened she listless till night grew late,Bound by a weary spell;Then clanked the latch of the garden-gate,And a wondrous thing befell:
Out burst the gladness, up dawned the love.In the song, in the waiting show;Grew silver the moon in the sky above.Blushed rosy the blossom below.
But the merry bird, nor the silvery moon,Nor the blossoms that flushed the nightHad one poor thanks for the granted boon:The lady forgot them quite!
Words in this poem
- blossomy a.
- Full of blossoms; flowery.
- listless a.
- Having no desire or inclination; indifferent; heedless; spiritless. [OE. listles, lustles. See Lust.]
- latch v. t.
- To smear; to anoint. [Cf. F. lécher to lick (of German origin). Cf. Lick.]
- wondrous adv.
- In a wonderful or surprising manner or degree; wonderfully. [OE. wonders, adv. (later also adj.). See Wonder, n., and cf. -wards.]
- boon n.
- A prayer or petition. [OE. bone, boin, a petition, fr. Icel. b; akin to Sw. & Dan. b, AS. b, and perh. to E. ban; but influenced by F. bon good, fr. L. bonus. Ban, Bounty.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Thankless Lady 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 Thankless Lady, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/the-thankless-lady.html, id L22295.
Form and metre
The Thankless Lady is 32 lines in 8 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 75%).
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 nightA · landB · whiteA · handB
- 2 ABAB moonA · skyB · swoonA · dryB
- 3 ABAB wailA · gladB · nightingaleA · madB
- 4 ABAB coldA · woeB · oldA · snowB
- 5 ABAB gleamA · gladB · dreamA · sadB
- 6 ABAB lateA · spellB · gateA · befellB
- 7 ABAB loveA · showB · aboveA · belowB
- 8 ABAB moonA · nightB · boonA · quiteB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| It is May, and the moon leans down at night | 10 | ·········· |
| Over a blossomy land; | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| Leans from her window a lady white, | 9 | ···/˘·/˘· |
| With her cheek upon her hand. | 7 | ······· |
| "Oh, why in the blue so misty, moon? | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Why so dull in the sky? | 6 | ······ |
| Thou look'st like one that is ready to swoon | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| Because her tear-well is dry. | 7 | ······· |
| "Enough, enough of longing and wail! | 9 | ˘/˘/·/˘·· |
| Oh, bird, I pray thee, be glad! | 7 | ······· |
| Sing to me once, dear nightingale, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| The old song, merry mad. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| "Hold, hold with thy blossoming, colourless, cold, | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| Apple-tree white as woe! | 6 | /˘···· |
| Blossom yet once with the blossom of old, | 10 | /˘····/˘·· |
| Let the roses shine through the snow!" | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| The moon and the blossoms they gloomily gleam, | 10 | ····/˘·/˘· |
| The bird will not be glad: | 6 | ······ |
| The dead never speak when the mournful dream, | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| They are too weak and sad. | 6 | ······ |
| Listened she listless till night grew late, | 10 | /˘˘·/˘···· |
| Bound by a weary spell; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Then clanked the latch of the garden-gate, | 10 | ··˘····/˘· |
| And a wondrous thing befell: | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Out burst the gladness, up dawned the love. | 10 | ···/˘··˘·· |
| In the song, in the waiting show; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Grew silver the moon in the sky above. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Blushed rosy the blossom below. | 9 | ·˘/˘·/˘·· |
| But the merry bird, nor the silvery moon, | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| Nor the blossoms that flushed the night | 9 | ··/˘··˘·· |
| Had one poor thanks for the granted boon: | 9 | ······/˘· |
| The lady forgot them quite! | 7 | ·/˘˘/·· |
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.