Two Rondels I
When, in the mid-sea of the night,I waken at thy call, O Lord,The first that troop my bark aboardAre darksome imps that hate the light,Whose tongues are arrows, eyes a blight--Of wraths and cares a pirate horde--Though on the mid-sea of the nightIt was thy call that waked me, Lord.
Then I must to my arms and fight--Catch up my shield and two-edged sword,The words of him who is thy word--Nor cease till they are put to flight;Then in the mid-sea of the nightI turn and listen for thee, Lord.
Words in this poem
- waken v. i.
- To wake; to cease to sleep; to be awakened. [OE. waknen, AS. wæcnan; akin to Goth. gawaknan. See Wake, v. i.]
- aboard adv.
- On board; into or within a ship or boat; hence, into or within a railway car. [Pref. a- on, in + board.]
- darksome a.
- Dark; gloomy; obscure; shaded; cheerless.
- horde n.
- A wandering troop or gang; especially, a clan or tribe of a nomadic people migrating from place to place for the sake of pasturage, plunder, etc.; a predatory multitude. Thomson. [F. horde (cf. G. horde), fr. Turk. ord, ordi, camp; of Tartar origin.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Two Rondels I 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, Two Rondels I, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/two-rondels-i.html, id L22366.
Form and metre
Two Rondels I is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
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 ABBAABAB nightA · lordB · aboardB · lightA · blightA · hordeB · nightA · lordB
- 2 AB-AAB fightA · swordB · word · flightA · nightA · lordB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When, in the mid-sea of the night, | 8 | ········ |
| I waken at thy call, O Lord, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The first that troop my bark aboard | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Are darksome imps that hate the light, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Whose tongues are arrows, eyes a blight-- | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Of wraths and cares a pirate horde-- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Though on the mid-sea of the night | 8 | ········ |
| It was thy call that waked me, Lord. | 8 | ········ |
| Then I must to my arms and fight-- | 8 | ········ |
| Catch up my shield and two-edged sword, | 8 | ········ |
| The words of him who is thy word-- | 8 | ········ |
| Nor cease till they are put to flight; | 8 | ········ |
| Then in the mid-sea of the night | 8 | ········ |
| I turn and listen for thee, Lord. | 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.