To an Autograph-Hunter
Seek not my name--it doth no virtue bear;Seek, seek thine own primeval name to find--The name God called when thy ideal fairArose in deeps of the eternal mind.
When that thou findest, thou art straight a lordOf time and space--art heir of all things grown;And not my name, poor, earthly label-word,But I myself thenceforward am thine own.
Thou hearest not? Or hearest as a manWho hears the muttering of a foolish spell?My very shadow would feel strange and wanIn thy abode:--I say No, and Farewell.
Thou understandest? Then it is enough;No shadow-deputy shall mock my friend;We walk the same path, over smooth and rough,To meet ere long at the unending end.
Words in this poem
- thenceforward adv.
- From that time onward; thenceforth.
- abode n.
- Act of waiting; delay. [OE. abad, abood, fr. abiden to abide. See Abide. For the change of vowel, cf. abode, imp. of abide.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To an Autograph-Hunter 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, To an Autograph-Hunter, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/to-an-autograph-hunter.html, id L22438.
Form and metre
To an Autograph-Hunter is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
See other poems in iambic 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.
- 1 ABAB bearA · findB · fairA · mindB
- 2 -A-A lord · grownA · word · ownA
- 3 -A-A man · spellA · wan · farewellA
- 4 ABAB enoughA · friendB · roughA · endB
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Seek not my name--it doth no virtue bear; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Seek, seek thine own primeval name to find-- | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| The name God called when thy ideal fair | 10 | ····˘··˘/· |
| Arose in deeps of the eternal mind. | 10 | ˘/····˘/˘· |
| When that thou findest, thou art straight a lord | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Of time and space--art heir of all things grown; | 10 | ·········· |
| And not my name, poor, earthly label-word, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| But I myself thenceforward am thine own. | 11 | ···/······· |
| Thou hearest not? Or hearest as a man | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Who hears the muttering of a foolish spell? | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| My very shadow would feel strange and wan | 10 | ·/˘/······ |
| In thy abode:--I say No, and Farewell. | 10 | ··˘/·····/ |
| Thou understandest? Then it is enough; | 10 | ··˘/˘···˘/ |
| No shadow-deputy shall mock my friend; | 10 | ·/·/˘˘···· |
| We walk the same path, over smooth and rough, | 10 | ·········· |
| To meet ere long at the unending end. | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
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.