Weary in Well-Doing
I would have gone; God bade me stay:I would have worked; God bade me rest.He broke my will from day to day,He read my yearnings unexpressedAnd said them nay.
Now I would stay; God bids me go:Now I would rest; God bids me work.He breaks my heart tossed to and fro,My soul is wrung with doubts that lurkAnd vex it so.
I go, Lord, where Thou sendest me;Day after day I plod and moil:But, Christ my God, when will it beThat I may let alone my toilAnd rest with Thee?
Words in this poem
- bade
- A form of the pat tense of Bid.
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- yearnings n.
- The maws, or stomachs, of young calves, used a rennet for curdling milk. [Cf. AS. geirnan, geyrnan, to rum. See 4th Earn.]
- plod v. i.
- To travel slowly but steadily; to trudge. [Gf. Gael. plod a clod, a pool; also, to strike or pelt with a clod or clods.]
- moil v. t.
- To daub; to make dirty; to soil; to defile. [OE. moillen to wet, OF. moillier, muillier, F. mouller, fr. (assumed) LL. molliare, fr. L. mollis soft. See Mollify.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Weary in Well-Doing is in the public domain. This text is taken from Goblin Market, The Prince's Progress, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #16950; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Christina Rossetti, Weary in Well-Doing, in Goblin Market and Other Poems (1862), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rossetti-goblin-market/weary-in-well-doing.html, id L04338.
Form and metre
Weary in Well-Doing is 15 lines in 3 stanzas of 5 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABA. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 27% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABABA stayA · restB · dayA · unexpressedB · nayA
- 2 ABABA goA · workB · froA · lurkB · soA
- 3 ABABA meA · moilB · beA · toilB · theeA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I would have gone; God bade me stay: | 8 | ········ |
| I would have worked; God bade me rest. | 8 | ········ |
| He broke my will from day to day, | 8 | ········ |
| He read my yearnings unexpressed | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And said them nay. | 4 | ···· |
| Now I would stay; God bids me go: | 8 | ········ |
| Now I would rest; God bids me work. | 8 | ········ |
| He breaks my heart tossed to and fro, | 8 | ········ |
| My soul is wrung with doubts that lurk | 8 | ········ |
| And vex it so. | 4 | ···· |
| I go, Lord, where Thou sendest me; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Day after day I plod and moil: | 8 | ········ |
| But, Christ my God, when will it be | 8 | ········ |
| That I may let alone my toil | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| And rest with Thee? | 4 | ···· |
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.