Night
The sun descending in the West,The evening star does shine;The birds are silent in their nest,And I must seek for mine.The moon, like a flowerIn heaven’s high bower,With silent delight,Sits and smiles on the night.
Farewell, green fields and happy groves,Where flocks have took delight,Where lambs have nibbled, silent movesThe feet of angels bright;Unseen, they pour blessing,And joy without ceasing,On each bud and blossom,And each sleeping bosom.
They look in every thoughtless nestWhere birds are covered warm;They visit caves of every beast,To keep them all from harm:If they see any weepingThat should have been sleeping,They pour sleep on their head,And sit down by their bed.
When wolves and tigers howl for prey,They pitying stand and weep;Seeking to drive their thirst away,And keep them from the sheep.But, if they rush dreadful,The angels, most heedful,Receive each mild spirit,New worlds to inherit.
And there the lion’s ruddy eyesShall flow with tears of gold:And pitying the tender cries,And walking round the fold:Saying: ‘Wrath by His meekness,And, by His health, sickness,Is driven awayFrom our immortal day.
‘And now beside thee, bleating lamb,I can lie down and sleep,Or think on Him who bore thy name,Graze after thee, and weep.For, washed in life’s river,My bright mane for everShall shine like the gold,As I guard o’er the fold.
Words in this poem
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
- pitying a.
- Expressing pity; as, a pitying eye, glance, or word.
- dreadful a.
- Full of dread or terror; fearful.
- 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,]
- meekness n.
- The quality or state of being meek.
- bleating a.
- Crying as a sheep does.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Night is in the public domain. This text is taken from Songs of Innocence and of Experience, Project Gutenberg ebook #1934; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Blake, Night, in Songs of Innocence and of Experience (1789–1794), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1934, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/blake-songs/night.html, id L02882.
Form and metre
Night is 48 lines in 6 stanzas of 8 lines each. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABABCCDD, in 2 of the 6 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.4 syllables. 16 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 15% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 ABABCCDD westA · shineB · nestA · mineB · flowerC · bowerC · delightD · nightD
- 2 -A-A---- groves · delightA · moves · brightA · blessing · ceasing · blossom · bosom
- 3 ----AABB nest · warm · beast · harm · weepingA · sleepingA · headB · bedB
- 4 ABAB---- preyA · weepB · awayA · sheepB · dreadful · heedful · spirit · inherit
- 5 ABABCCDD eyesA · goldB · criesA · foldB · meeknessC · sicknessC · awayD · dayD
- 6 -A-A--BB lamb · sleepA · name · weepA · river · ever · goldB · foldB
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The sun descending in the West, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| The evening star does shine; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The birds are silent in their nest, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And I must seek for mine. | 6 | ······ |
| The moon, like a flower | 6 | ····/˘ |
| In heaven’s high bower, | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| With silent delight, | 5 | ·/˘˘/ |
| Sits and smiles on the night. | 6 | ······ |
| Farewell, green fields and happy groves, | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| Where flocks have took delight, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Where lambs have nibbled, silent moves | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| The feet of angels bright; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Unseen, they pour blessing, | 6 | ˘/··/˘ |
| And joy without ceasing, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| On each bud and blossom, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| And each sleeping bosom. | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| They look in every thoughtless nest | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Where birds are covered warm; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| They visit caves of every beast, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| To keep them all from harm: | 6 | ······ |
| If they see any weeping | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| That should have been sleeping, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| They pour sleep on their head, | 6 | ······ |
| And sit down by their bed. | 6 | ······ |
| When wolves and tigers howl for prey, | 7 | ···/··· |
| They pitying stand and weep; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Seeking to drive their thirst away, | 8 | /˘····˘/ |
| And keep them from the sheep. | 6 | ······ |
| But, if they rush dreadful, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| The angels, most heedful, | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| Receive each mild spirit, | 6 | ˘/··/˘ |
| New worlds to inherit. | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| And there the lion’s ruddy eyes | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Shall flow with tears of gold: | 6 | ······ |
| And pitying the tender cries, | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| And walking round the fold: | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Saying: ‘Wrath by His meekness, | 7 | /˘···/˘ |
| And, by His health, sickness, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Is driven away | 5 | ·/˘˘/ |
| From our immortal day. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| ‘And now beside thee, bleating lamb, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| I can lie down and sleep, | 6 | ······ |
| Or think on Him who bore thy name, | 8 | ········ |
| Graze after thee, and weep. | 6 | ······ |
| For, washed in life’s river, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| My bright mane for ever | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Shall shine like the gold, | 5 | ····· |
| As I guard o’er the fold. | 6 | ······ |
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.