Chant to Dawn in a Factory Town
In the ground,Below the great buildings,Below the running of waters and the threshing of feet—Deep—Buried away—Long forgotten,The spirits of strong men.
I hail thee, O love!
In the soft night I have touched the bodies of men,I have touched with rough fingers the lips of women,I have become with child to all men,I, master of life, embrace all men.
I hail thee, O love!
Now, my beloved, the time has come to bury you in the black ground at the field's edge.I am glad.In my breast gladness is singing.Now the great engines roar and thrust out.The unconquerable one goes through the ground to my desire.In the long night,In the long day,Below and above,New song, come to life.
Behold!Song is consuming the terrible engine of life.
I greet thee, O love.
In the fieldsSeeds on the air floating.In the townsBlack smoke for a shroud.In my breastUnderstanding awake.
In my breast the growth of ages,In my breast the growth of ages,At the field's edge,By the town's edge,In my breast the growth of ages.
My beloved,White, like the lips of the dead Christ,Far below,In the black ground,
I hail thee, O love!I hail thee, O love!
In my breast the growth of ages.In my breast the growth of ages.
Words in this poem
- unconquerable a.
- Not conquerable; indomitable.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Chant to Dawn in a Factory Town is in the public domain. This text is taken from Mid-American Chants (New York: John Lane Company; London: John Lane, The Bodley Head, 1918), Internet Archive; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Sherwood Anderson, Chant to Dawn in a Factory Town, in Mid-American Chants (1918), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/anderson-mid-american-chants/chant-to-dawn-in-a-factory-town.html, id L29483.
Form and metre
Chant to Dawn in a Factory Town is 44 lines in 12 stanzas. The metre is iambic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 74%).
See other poems in iambic dimeter.
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 -----AA ground · buildings · feet · deep · away · forgottenA · menA
- 3 AAAA menA · womenA · menA · menA
- 9 AABBA agesA · agesA · edgeB · edgeB · agesA
- 11 AA loveA · loveA
- 12 AA agesA · agesA
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 dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| In the ground, | 3 | ··· |
| Below the great buildings, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Below the running of waters and the threshing of feet— | 14 | ···/˘·/˘··/˘·· |
| Deep— | 1 | · |
| Buried away— | 4 | /˘˘/ |
| Long forgotten, | 4 | ·˘/˘ |
| The spirits of strong men. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| I hail thee, O love! | 5 | ····· |
| In the soft night I have touched the bodies of men, | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| I have touched with rough fingers the lips of women, | 12 | ·····/˘···/˘ |
| I have become with child to all men, | 9 | ··˘/····· |
| I, master of life, embrace all men. | 9 | ·/˘··˘/·· |
| I hail thee, O love! | 5 | ····· |
| Now, my beloved, the time has come to bury you in the black ground at the field's edge. | 20 | ··˘/·····/˘········· |
| I am glad. | 3 | ··· |
| In my breast gladness is singing. | 8 | ···/˘·/˘ |
| Now the great engines roar and thrust out. | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| The unconquerable one goes through the ground to my desire. | 16 | ·˘/˘˘˘·······˘/˘ |
| In the long night, | 4 | ···· |
| In the long day, | 4 | ···· |
| Below and above, | 5 | ····· |
| New song, come to life. | 5 | ····· |
| Behold! | 2 | ˘/ |
| Song is consuming the terrible engine of life. | 13 | ··˘/˘·/˘˘/˘·· |
| I greet thee, O love. | 5 | ····· |
| In the fields | 3 | ··· |
| Seeds on the air floating. | 6 | ····/˘ |
| In the towns | 3 | ··· |
| Black smoke for a shroud. | 5 | ····· |
| In my breast | 3 | ··· |
| Understanding awake. | 6 | ·˘/˘˘/ |
| In my breast the growth of ages, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| In my breast the growth of ages, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| At the field's edge, | 4 | ···· |
| By the town's edge, | 4 | ···· |
| In my breast the growth of ages. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| My beloved, | 3 | ·˘/ |
| White, like the lips of the dead Christ, | 8 | ········ |
| Far below, | 3 | ··· |
| In the black ground, | 4 | ···· |
| I hail thee, O love! | 5 | ····· |
| I hail thee, O love! | 5 | ····· |
| In my breast the growth of ages. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| In my breast the growth of ages. | 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.