Two Rondels II
There comes no voice from thee, O Lord,Across the mid-sea of the night!I lift my voice and cry with might:If thou keep silent, soon a hordeOf imps again will swarm aboard,And I shall be in sorry plightIf no voice come from thee, my Lord,Across the mid-sea of the night.
There comes no voice; I hear no word!But in my soul dawns something bright:--There is no sea, no foe to fight!Thy heart and mine beat one accord:I need no voice from thee, O Lord,Across the mid-sea of the night.
Words in this poem
- 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.]
- aboard adv.
- On board; into or within a ship or boat; hence, into or within a railway car. [Pref. a- on, in + board.]
- 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,]
- plight v. t.
- To weave; to braid; to fold; to plait. [OE. pliten; probably through Old French, fr. LL. plectare, L. plectere. See Plait, Ply.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Two Rondels 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, Two Rondels II, 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-ii.html, id L22367.
Form and metre
Two Rondels II is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
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 lordA · nightB · mightB · hordeA · aboardA · plightB · lordA · nightB
- 2 -AABBA word · brightA · fightA · accordB · lordB · nightA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| There comes no voice from thee, O Lord, | 8 | ········ |
| Across the mid-sea of the night! | 8 | ˘/······ |
| I lift my voice and cry with might: | 8 | ········ |
| If thou keep silent, soon a horde | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Of imps again will swarm aboard, | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| And I shall be in sorry plight | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| If no voice come from thee, my Lord, | 8 | ········ |
| Across the mid-sea of the night. | 8 | ˘/······ |
| There comes no voice; I hear no word! | 8 | ········ |
| But in my soul dawns something bright:-- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| There is no sea, no foe to fight! | 8 | ········ |
| Thy heart and mine beat one accord: | 8 | ······˘/ |
| I need no voice from thee, O Lord, | 8 | ········ |
| Across the mid-sea of the night. | 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.