V.—The Coorse Cratur
The Lord gaed wi' a crood o' menThrou Jericho the bonny;'Twas ill the Son o' Man to kenMang sons o' men sae mony:
The wee bit son o' man ZacchayTo see the Maister seekit;He speilt a fig-tree, bauld an' shy,An' sae his shortness ekit.
But as he thoucht to see his back,Roun turnt the haill face til 'im,Up luikit straucht, an' til 'im spak--His hert gaed like to kill 'im.
"Come doun, Zacchay; bestir yersel;This nicht I want a lodgin."Like a ripe aipple 'maist he fell,Nor needit ony nudgin.
But up amang the unco guidThere rase a murmurin won'er:"This is a deemis want o' heed,The man's a special sinner!"
Up spak Zacchay, his hert ableeze:"Half mine, the puir, Lord, hae it;Gien oucht I've taen by ony lees,Fourfauld again I pay it!"
Then Jesus said, "This is a man!His hoose I'm here to save it;He's are o' Abraham's ain clan,An' siclike has behavit!
I cam the lost to seek an' win."--Zacchay was are he wantit:To ony man that left his sinHis grace he never scantit.
Words in this poem
- 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.]
- maister n.
- Master. Chaucer.
- roun v. i.
- To whisper. [obs.] Gower. [AS. r, fr. r a rune, secret, mystery; akin to G. raunen to whisper. See Rune.]
- haill n.
- Small roundish masses of ice precipitated from the clouds, where they are formed by the congelation of vapor. The separate masses or grains are called hailstones.
- bestir v. t.
- To put into brisk or vigorous action; to move with life and vigor; -- usually with the reciprocal pronoun.
- unco a.
- Unknown; strange, or foreign; unusual, or surprising; distant in manner; reserved. [Scot. The same word as E. uncouth.]
- rase v. t.
- To rub along the surface of; to graze. [F. raser, LL. rasare to scrape often, v. freq. fr. L. radere, rasum, to scrape, shave; cf. Skr. rad to scratch, gnaw, L. rodere to gnaw. Cf. Raze, Razee, Razor,]
- sinner n.
- One who has sinned; especially, one who has sinned without repenting; hence, a persistent and incorrigible transgressor; one condemned by the law of God.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
V.—The Coorse Cratur 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, V.—The Coorse Cratur, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/v-the-coorse-cratur.html, id L22550.
Form and metre
V.—The Coorse Cratur is 32 lines in 8 stanzas of 4 lines each. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABAB, in 3 of the 8 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
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 A-A- menA · bonny · kenA · mony
- 2 -A-A zacchay · seekitA · shy · ekitA
- 3 ABAB backA · imB · spakA · imB
- 4 -A-A yersel · lodginA · fell · nudginA
- 6 ABAB ableezeA · itB · leesA · itB
- 7 A-A- manA · it · clanA · behavit
- 8 ABAB winA · wantitB · sinA · scantitB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The Lord gaed wi' a crood o' men | 8 | ········ |
| Throu Jericho the bonny; | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| 'Twas ill the Son o' Man to ken | 8 | ········ |
| Mang sons o' men sae mony: | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| The wee bit son o' man Zacchay | 8 | ········ |
| To see the Maister seekit; | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| He speilt a fig-tree, bauld an' shy, | 8 | ········ |
| An' sae his shortness ekit. | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| But as he thoucht to see his back, | 8 | ········ |
| Roun turnt the haill face til 'im, | 7 | ······· |
| Up luikit straucht, an' til 'im spak-- | 8 | ········ |
| His hert gaed like to kill 'im. | 7 | ······· |
| "Come doun, Zacchay; bestir yersel; | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| This nicht I want a lodgin." | 7 | ······· |
| Like a ripe aipple 'maist he fell, | 8 | ········ |
| Nor needit ony nudgin. | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| But up amang the unco guid | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| There rase a murmurin won'er: | 8 | ········ |
| "This is a deemis want o' heed, | 8 | ········ |
| The man's a special sinner!" | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Up spak Zacchay, his hert ableeze: | 8 | ········ |
| "Half mine, the puir, Lord, hae it; | 7 | ······· |
| Gien oucht I've taen by ony lees, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Fourfauld again I pay it!" | 7 | ··˘/··· |
| Then Jesus said, "This is a man! | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| His hoose I'm here to save it; | 7 | ······· |
| He's are o' Abraham's ain clan, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| An' siclike has behavit! | 7 | ······· |
| I cam the lost to seek an' win."-- | 8 | ········ |
| Zacchay was are he wantit: | 7 | ······· |
| To ony man that left his sin | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| His grace he never scantit. | 7 | ···/˘·· |
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