The Twa Gordons II
Lady Margaret, her hert richt gret,Luiks ower the castle wa';Lord Archibold rides oot at the yett,Ahint him his merry men a'.
Wi' a' his band, to the Holy LandHe's boune wi' merry din,His shouther's doss a Christ's cross,In his breist an ugsome sin.
But the cross it brunt him like the fire.Its burnin never ceast;It brunt in an' in, to win at the sinLay cowerin in his breist.
A mile frae the shore o' the Deid SeaThe army haltit ae nicht;Lord Archie was waukrife, an' oot gaed heA walkin i' the munelicht.
Dour-like he gaed, wi' doon-hingin heid,Quhill he cam, by the licht o' the mune,Quhaur michty stanes lay scattert like sheep,An' ance they worshipt Mahoun.
The scruff an' scum o' the deid shore gleamtAn' glintit a sauty gray;The banes o' the deid stack oot o' its bed,The sea lickit them as they lay.
He sat him doon on a sunken stane,An' he sighit sae dreary an' deep:"I can thole ohn grutten, lyin awauk,But he comes whan I'm asleep!
"I wud gie my soul for ever an' ayeIntil en'less dule an' smert,To sleep a' nicht like a bairn again,An' cule my burnin hert!"
Oot frae ahint a muckle staneCam a voice like a huddy craw's:"Behaud there, Archibold Gordon!" it said,"Behaud--ye hae ower gude cause!"
"I'll say quhat I like," quod Archibold,"Be ye ghaist or deevil or quhat!""Tak tent, lord Archie, gien ye be wise--The tit winna even the tat!"
Lord Archibold leuch wi' a loud ha, ha,Eerisome, grousum to hear:"A bonny bargain auld Cloots wad hae,It has ilka faut but fear!"
"Dune, lord Archibold?" craikit the voice;"Dune, Belzie!" cried he again.--The gray banes glimmert, the white saut shimmert--Lord Archie was him lane.
Back he gaed straught, by the glowerin mune,An' doun in his plaid he lay,An' soun' he sleepit.--A ghaist-like manSat by his heid quhill the day.
An' quhanever he moanit or turnit him roun,Or his broo gae token o' plycht,The waukin man i' the sleepin man's lugWud rown a murgeon o' micht.
An' the glint o' a smile wud quaver athortThe sleepin cheek sae broun,An' a tear atween the ee-lids wud stert,An' whiles rin fairly doun.
An' aye by his lair sat the ghaist-like man,He watchit his sleep a' nicht;An' in mail rust-broun, wi' his visorne doun,Rade at his knee i' the fecht.
Nor anis nor twyis the horn-helmit chielSaved him frae deidly dad;An' Archie said, "Gien this be the deilHe's no sac black as he's ca'd."
But wat ye fu' weel it wasna the deilThat tuik lord Archie's pairt,But his twin-brother John he thoucht deid an' gone,Wi' luve like a lowe in his hert.
Words in this poem 22
- yett n.
- Any one of several species of large marine gastropods belonging to the genus Yetus, or Cymba; a boat shell.
- doss n.
- A place to sleep in; a bed; hence, sleep.
- ugsome a.
- Ugly; offensive; loathsome. -- Ug"some*ness, n.
- brunt n.
- The heat, or utmost violence, of an onset; the strength or greatest fury of any contention; as, the brunt of a battle. [OE. brunt, bront, fr. Icel. bruna to rush; cf. Icel. brenna to burn. Cf. Burn, v. t.]
- scruff n.
- The nape of the neck; the loose outside skin, as of the back of the neck. [Cf. Scuff.]
- 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.]
- thole v. t.
- To bear; to endure; to undergo. Gower. [OE. þolen, þolien, AS. þolian; akin to OS. tholon, OHG. dolen, G. geduld patience, dulden to endure, Icel. þola, Sw. tåla, Dan. taale, Goth. þulan, L. tolerate,]
- quod v.
- Quoth; said. See Quoth.
- eerisome a.
- Causing fear; eerie.
- bonny a.
- Handsome; beautiful; pretty; attractively lively and graceful. [OE. boni, prob. fr. F. bon, fem. bonne, good, fr. L. bonus good. See Bounty, and cf. Bonus, Boon.]
- auld a.
- Old; as, Auld Reekie (old smoky), i. e., Edinburgh. [See Old.]
- dune n.
- A low hill of drifting sand usually formed on the coats, but often carried far inland by the prevailing winds. [The same word as down: cf. D. duin. See Down a bank of sand.]
- straught v. t.
- To stretch; to make straight.
- roun v. i.
- To whisper. [obs.] Gower. [AS. r, fr. r a rune, secret, mystery; akin to G. raunen to whisper. See Rune.]
- rown v. i.
- To whisper. [obs.] Gower. [AS. r, fr. r a rune, secret, mystery; akin to G. raunen to whisper. See Rune.]
- glint n.
- A glimpse, glance, or gleam. [OE. glent.]
- atween adv.
- Between. Spenser. [See Atwain, and cf. Between.]
- whiles conj.
- During the time that; while. Chaucer. Fuller.
- fairly adv.
- In a fairmanner; clearly; openly; plainly; fully; distinctly; frankly.
- lair n.
- A place in which to lie or rest; especially, the bed or couch of a wild beast. [OE. leir, AS. leger; akin to D. leger, G. lager couch, lair, OHG. laga, Goth. ligrs, and to E. lie. See Lie to be prostrate, and cf. Layer, Leaguer.]
- deil n.
- Devil; -- spelt also deel. Deil's buckie. See under Buckie.
- weel
- A kind of trap or snare for fish, made of twigs. Carew. [Prov. E. weel, weal, a wicker basket to catch eels; prob. akin to willow, and so called as made of willow twigs.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Twa Gordons 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 Twa Gordons 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-twa-gordons-ii.html, id L22541.
Form and metre
The Twa Gordons II is 72 lines in 18 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is trochaic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 70%).
See other poems in trochaic pentameter.
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.
- 2 -A-A land · dinA · cross · sinA
- 4 ABAB seaA · nichtB · heA · munelichtB
- 5 -A-A heid · muneA · sheep · mahounA
- 6 -A-A gleamt · grayA · bed · layA
- 7 -A-A stane · deepA · awauk · asleepA
- 8 -A-A aye · smertA · again · hertA
- 9 -A-A stane · craw'sA · said · causeA
- 10 -A-A archibold · quhatA · wise · tatA
- 11 -A-A ha · hearA · hae · fearA
- 12 -A-A voice · againA · shimmert · laneA
- 13 -A-A mune · layA · man · dayA
- 15 -A-A athort · brounA · stert · dounA
- 17 -A-A chiel · dadA · deil · ca'dA
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Lady Margaret, her hert richt gret, | 9 | /˘/˘˘···· |
| Luiks ower the castle wa'; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Lord Archibold rides oot at the yett, | 9 | ········· |
| Ahint him his merry men a'. | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| Wi' a' his band, to the Holy Land | 9 | ······/˘· |
| He's boune wi' merry din, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| His shouther's doss a Christ's cross, | 7 | ······· |
| In his breist an ugsome sin. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| But the cross it brunt him like the fire. | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Its burnin never ceast; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| It brunt in an' in, to win at the sin | 10 | ·········· |
| Lay cowerin in his breist. | 7 | ······· |
| A mile frae the shore o' the Deid Sea | 9 | ········· |
| The army haltit ae nicht; | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Lord Archie was waukrife, an' oot gaed he | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| A walkin i' the munelicht. | 8 | ········ |
| Dour-like he gaed, wi' doon-hingin heid, | 10 | /˘········ |
| Quhill he cam, by the licht o' the mune, | 10 | ·········· |
| Quhaur michty stanes lay scattert like sheep, | 10 | ·········· |
| An' ance they worshipt Mahoun. | 7 | ······· |
| The scruff an' scum o' the deid shore gleamt | 9 | ········· |
| An' glintit a sauty gray; | 7 | ······· |
| The banes o' the deid stack oot o' its bed, | 10 | ·········· |
| The sea lickit them as they lay. | 8 | ········ |
| He sat him doon on a sunken stane, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| An' he sighit sae dreary an' deep: | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| "I can thole ohn grutten, lyin awauk, | 9 | ········· |
| But he comes whan I'm asleep! | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| "I wud gie my soul for ever an' aye | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| Intil en'less dule an' smert, | 7 | ······· |
| To sleep a' nicht like a bairn again, | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| An' cule my burnin hert!" | 7 | ······· |
| Oot frae ahint a muckle stane | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Cam a voice like a huddy craw's: | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| "Behaud there, Archibold Gordon!" it said, | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| "Behaud--ye hae ower gude cause!" | 8 | ········ |
| "I'll say quhat I like," quod Archibold, | 10 | ·········· |
| "Be ye ghaist or deevil or quhat!" | 9 | ········· |
| "Tak tent, lord Archie, gien ye be wise-- | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| The tit winna even the tat!" | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| Lord Archibold leuch wi' a loud ha, ha, | 10 | ·········· |
| Eerisome, grousum to hear: | 7 | /˘˘···· |
| "A bonny bargain auld Cloots wad hae, | 9 | ·/˘/˘···· |
| It has ilka faut but fear!" | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| "Dune, lord Archibold?" craikit the voice; | 9 | ········· |
| "Dune, Belzie!" cried he again.-- | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| The gray banes glimmert, the white saut shimmert-- | 10 | ·········· |
| Lord Archie was him lane. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Back he gaed straught, by the glowerin mune, | 10 | ·········· |
| An' doun in his plaid he lay, | 7 | ······· |
| An' soun' he sleepit.--A ghaist-like man | 9 | ········· |
| Sat by his heid quhill the day. | 8 | ········ |
| An' quhanever he moanit or turnit him roun, | 13 | ············· |
| Or his broo gae token o' plycht, | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| The waukin man i' the sleepin man's lug | 10 | ·········· |
| Wud rown a murgeon o' micht. | 7 | ······· |
| An' the glint o' a smile wud quaver athort | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| The sleepin cheek sae broun, | 6 | ······ |
| An' a tear atween the ee-lids wud stert, | 10 | ···˘/····· |
| An' whiles rin fairly doun. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| An' aye by his lair sat the ghaist-like man, | 10 | ·········· |
| He watchit his sleep a' nicht; | 7 | ······· |
| An' in mail rust-broun, wi' his visorne doun, | 10 | ·········· |
| Rade at his knee i' the fecht. | 7 | ······· |
| Nor anis nor twyis the horn-helmit chiel | 10 | ·········· |
| Saved him frae deidly dad; | 6 | ······ |
| An' Archie said, "Gien this be the deil | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| He's no sac black as he's ca'd." | 7 | ······· |
| But wat ye fu' weel it wasna the deil | 10 | ·········· |
| That tuik lord Archie's pairt, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| But his twin-brother John he thoucht deid an' gone, | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| Wi' luve like a lowe in his hert. | 8 | ········ |
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.