God's World
O world, I cannot hold thee close enough!Thy winds, thy wide grey skies!Thy mists, that roll and rise!Thy woods, this autumn day, that ache and sagAnd all but cry with colour! That gaunt cragTo crush! To lift the lean of that black bluff!World, World, I cannot get thee close enough!
Long have I known a glory in it all,But never knew I this;Here such a passion isAs stretcheth me apart,--Lord, I do fearThou'st made the world too beautiful this year;My soul is all but out of me,--let fallNo burning leaf; prithee, let no bird call.
Words in this poem
- ache n.
- A name given to several species of plants; as, smallage, wild celery, parsley. Holland. [F. ache, L. apium parsley.]
- gaunt a.
- Attenuated, as with fasting or suffering; lean; meager; pinched and grim. [Cf. Norw. gand a thin pointed stick, a tall and thin man, and W. gwan weak.]
- crag n.
- The neck or throat [A form of craw: cf. D. kraag neck, collar, G. kragen. See Craw.]
- bluff a.
- Having a broad, flattened front; as, the bluff bows of a ship. [Cf. OD. blaf flat, broad, blaffaert one with a broad face, also, a boaster; or G. verblüffen to confuse, LG. bluffen to frighten; to unknown origin.]
- prithee interj.
- A corruption of pray thee; as, I prithee; generally used without I.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
God's World is in the public domain. This text is taken from Renascence, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #109; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edna St. Vincent Millay, God's World, in Renascence and Other Poems (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #109, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/millay-renascence/god-s-world.html, id L07724.
Form and metre
God's World is 14 lines in 2 stanzas of 7 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.9 syllables. 36% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABBCCAA enoughA · skiesB · riseB · sagC · cragC · bluffA · enoughA
- 2 A--BBAA allA · this · is · fearB · yearB · fallA · callA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| O world, I cannot hold thee close enough! | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Thy winds, thy wide grey skies! | 6 | ······ |
| Thy mists, that roll and rise! | 6 | ······ |
| Thy woods, this autumn day, that ache and sag | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And all but cry with colour! That gaunt crag | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| To crush! To lift the lean of that black bluff! | 10 | ·········· |
| World, World, I cannot get thee close enough! | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Long have I known a glory in it all, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| But never knew I this; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Here such a passion is | 6 | ···/˘· |
| As stretcheth me apart,--Lord, I do fear | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| Thou'st made the world too beautiful this year; | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| My soul is all but out of me,--let fall | 10 | ·········· |
| No burning leaf; prithee, let no bird call. | 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.