The Night
Most holy Night, that still dost keepThe keys of all the doors of sleep,To me when my tired eyelids closeGive thou repose.
And let the far lament of themThat chaunt the dead day’s requiemMake in my ears, who wakeful lie,Soft lullaby.
Let them that guard the horned moonBy my bedside their memories croon.So shall I have new dreams and blestIn my brief rest.
Fold your great wings about my face,Hide dawning from my resting-place,And cheat me with your false delight,Most Holy Night.
Words in this poem
- requiem n.
- A mass said or sung for the repose of a departed soul. [Acc. of L. requies rest, the first words of the Mass being "Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine," give eternal rest to them, O lord; pref. re- re + quies quiet. S]
- wakeful a.
- Not sleeping; indisposed to sleep; watchful; vigilant.
- lullaby n.
- A song to quiet babes or lull them to sleep; that which quiets. [From Lull, v. t.]
- bedside n.
- The side of a bed.
- croon v. i.
- To make a continuous hollow moan, as cattle do when in pain.
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Night is in the public domain. This text is taken from Sonnets and Verse, Project Gutenberg ebook #60663; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Hilaire Belloc, The Night, in Sonnets and Verse (1923), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #60663, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/belloc-sonnets-verse/the-night.html, id L21653.
Form and metre
The Night is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABB. 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 AABB keepA · sleepA · closeB · reposeB
- 2 AABB themA · requiemA · lieB · lullabyB
- 3 AABB moonA · croonA · blestB · restB
- 4 AABB faceA · placeA · delightB · nightB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Most holy Night, that still dost keep | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The keys of all the doors of sleep, | 8 | ········ |
| To me when my tired eyelids close | 8 | ····//·· |
| Give thou repose. | 4 | ··˘/ |
| And let the far lament of them | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| That chaunt the dead day’s requiem | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Make in my ears, who wakeful lie, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Soft lullaby. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Let them that guard the horned moon | 7 | ······· |
| By my bedside their memories croon. | 8 | ··/··/˘· |
| So shall I have new dreams and blest | 8 | ········ |
| In my brief rest. | 4 | ···· |
| Fold your great wings about my face, | 8 | ········ |
| Hide dawning from my resting-place, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And cheat me with your false delight, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Most Holy Night. | 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.