Market-Night
'O Winds, howl not so long and loud;Nor with your vengeance arm the snow:Bear hence each heavy-loaded cloud;And let the twinkling Star-beams glow.
'Now sweeping floods rush down the slope,Wide scattering ruin.--Stars, shine soon!No other light my Love can hope;Midnight will want the joyous Moon.
'O guardian Spirits!--Ye that dwellWhere woods, and pits, and hollow ways,The lone night-trav'ler's fancy swellWith fearful tales, of older days,--
'Press round him:--guide his willing steedThrough darkness, dangers, currents, snows;Wait where, from shelt'ring thickets freed,The dreary Heath's rude whirlwind blows.
'From darkness rushing o'er his way,The Thorn's white load it bears on high!Where the short furze all shrouded lay,Mounts the dried grass;--Earth's bosom dry.
'Then o'er the Hill with furious sweepIt rends the elevated tree--Sure-footed beast, thy road thou'lt keep;Nor storm nor darkness startles thee!
'O blest assurance, (trusty steed,)To thee the buried road is known;Home, all the spur thy footsteps need,When loose the frozen rein is thrown,
'Between the roaring blasts that shakeThe naked Elder at the door,Though not one prattler to me speak,Their sleeping sighs delight me more.
'Sound is their rest:--they little knowWhat pain, what cold, their Father feels;But dream, perhaps, they see him now,While each the promis'd Orange peels.
Would it were so!--the fire burns bright,And on the warming trencher gleams;In Expectation's raptur'd sightHow precious his arrival seems!
'I'll look abroad!--'tis piercing cold!--How the bleak wind assails his breast!Yet some faint light mine eyes, behold:The storm is verging o'er the West.
'There shines a Star!--O welcome sight!--Through the thin vapours brightening still!Yet, 'twas beneath the fairest nightThe murd'rer stained yon lonely Hill.
'Mercy, kind Heav'n! such thoughts dispel!No voice, no footstep can I hear!(Where Night and Silence brooding dwell,Spreads thy cold reign, heart-chilling Fear.)
'Distressing hour! uncertain fate!O Mercy, Mercy, guide him home!--Hark!--then I heard the distant gate;--Repeat it, Echo; quickly, come!
'One minute now will ease my fears--Or, still more wretched must I be?No: surely Heaven has spar'd our tears:I see him, cloath'd in snow;--'tis he.--
'Where have you stay'd? put down your load.How have you borne the storm, the cold?What horrors did I not forebode--That Beast is worth his weight in gold.'
Thus spoke the joyful Wife;--then ranAnd hid in grateful steams her head:Dapple was hous'd, the hungry ManWith joy glanc'd o'er the Children's bed.
'What, all asleep!--so best;' he cried:O what a night I've travell'd through!Unseen, unheard, I might have died;But Heaven has brought me safe to you.
'Dear Partner of my nights and days,That smile becomes thee!--Let us thenLearn, though mishap may cross our ways,It is not ours to reckon when.'
Words in this poem
- twinkling n.
- The act of one who, or of that which, twinkles; a quick movement of the eye; a wink; a twinkle. Holland.
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- steed n.
- A horse, especially a spirited horse for state of war; -- used chiefly in poetry or stately prose. [OE. stede, AS. steda a stud-horse, war horse, fr. stod a stud of breeding steeds; akin to G. stute a mare, Icel. stedda, sto, a stud. *163. See Stud of horses.]
- dreary a.
- Sorrowful; distressful. [OE. dreori, dreri, AS. dreórig, sad; akin to G. traurig, and prob. to AS. dreósan to fall, Goth. driusan. Cf. Dross, Drear, Drizzle, Drowse.]
- prattler n.
- One who prattles. Herbert.
- trencher n.
- One who trenches; esp., one who cuts or digs ditches. [OE. trencheoir, F. tranchoir, fr. trancher to cut, carve. See Trench, v. t.]
- dispel v. t.
- To drive away by scattering, or so to cause to vanish; to clear away; to banish; to dissipate; as, to dispel a cloud, vapors, cares, doubts, illusions. [L. dispellere; dis- + pellere to push, drive. See Pulse a beating.]
- forebode n.
- Prognostication; presage.
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- dapple n.
- One of the spots on a dappled animal. [Cf. Icel. depill a spot, a dot, a dog with spots over the eyes, dapi a pool, and E. dimple.]
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
- unheard a.
- Not heard; not perceived by the ear; as, words unheard by those present.
- mishap v. i.
- To happen unluckily; -- used impersonally.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Market-Night is in the public domain. This text is taken from Rural Tales, Ballads, and Songs, Project Gutenberg ebook #9093; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Robert Bloomfield, Market-Night, in Rural Tales, Ballads and Songs (1802), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9093, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bloomfield-tales/market-night.html, id L09700.
Form and metre
Market-Night is 76 lines in 19 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 17 of its 19 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 14% 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 ABAB loudA · snowB · cloudA · glowB
- 2 ABAB slopeA · soonB · hopeA · moonB
- 3 ABAB dwellA · waysB · swellA · daysB
- 4 ABAB steedA · snowsB · freedA · blowsB
- 5 ABAB wayA · highB · layA · dryB
- 6 ABAB sweepA · treeB · keepA · theeB
- 7 ABAB steedA · knownB · needA · thrownB
- 8 -A-A shake · doorA · speak · moreA
- 9 -A-A know · feelsA · now · peelsA
- 10 ABAB brightA · gleamsB · sightA · seemsB
- 11 ABAB coldA · breastB · beholdA · westB
- 12 ABAB sightA · stillB · nightA · hillB
- 13 ABAB dispelA · hearB · dwellA · fearB
- 14 ABAB fateA · homeB · gateA · comeB
- 15 ABAB fearsA · beB · tearsA · heB
- 16 ABAB loadA · coldB · forebodeA · goldB
- 17 ABAB ranA · headB · manA · bedB
- 18 ABAB criedA · throughB · diedA · youB
- 19 ABAB daysA · thenB · waysA · whenB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 'O Winds, howl not so long and loud; | 8 | ········ |
| Nor with your vengeance arm the snow: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Bear hence each heavy-loaded cloud; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And let the twinkling Star-beams glow. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| 'Now sweeping floods rush down the slope, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Wide scattering ruin.--Stars, shine soon! | 8 | ·/˘˘/··· |
| No other light my Love can hope; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Midnight will want the joyous Moon. | 8 | /····/˘· |
| 'O guardian Spirits!--Ye that dwell | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Where woods, and pits, and hollow ways, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The lone night-trav'ler's fancy swell | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| With fearful tales, of older days,-- | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| 'Press round him:--guide his willing steed | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Through darkness, dangers, currents, snows; | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Wait where, from shelt'ring thickets freed, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The dreary Heath's rude whirlwind blows. | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| 'From darkness rushing o'er his way, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| The Thorn's white load it bears on high! | 8 | ········ |
| Where the short furze all shrouded lay, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Mounts the dried grass;--Earth's bosom dry. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| 'Then o'er the Hill with furious sweep | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| It rends the elevated tree-- | 8 | ···/˘·˘· |
| Sure-footed beast, thy road thou'lt keep; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Nor storm nor darkness startles thee! | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| 'O blest assurance, (trusty steed,) | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| To thee the buried road is known; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Home, all the spur thy footsteps need, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| When loose the frozen rein is thrown, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| 'Between the roaring blasts that shake | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The naked Elder at the door, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Though not one prattler to me speak, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Their sleeping sighs delight me more. | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| 'Sound is their rest:--they little know | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| What pain, what cold, their Father feels; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| But dream, perhaps, they see him now, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| While each the promis'd Orange peels. | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Would it were so!--the fire burns bright, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| And on the warming trencher gleams; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| In Expectation's raptur'd sight | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| How precious his arrival seems! | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| 'I'll look abroad!--'tis piercing cold!-- | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| How the bleak wind assails his breast! | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Yet some faint light mine eyes, behold: | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The storm is verging o'er the West. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| 'There shines a Star!--O welcome sight!-- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Through the thin vapours brightening still! | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Yet, 'twas beneath the fairest night | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The murd'rer stained yon lonely Hill. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| 'Mercy, kind Heav'n! such thoughts dispel! | 8 | /˘····˘/ |
| No voice, no footstep can I hear! | 8 | ···/···· |
| (Where Night and Silence brooding dwell, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Spreads thy cold reign, heart-chilling Fear.) | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| 'Distressing hour! uncertain fate! | 8 | ˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| O Mercy, Mercy, guide him home!-- | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Hark!--then I heard the distant gate;-- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Repeat it, Echo; quickly, come! | 8 | ˘/·/˘/˘· |
| 'One minute now will ease my fears-- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Or, still more wretched must I be? | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| No: surely Heaven has spar'd our tears: | 8 | ·/˘/··/· |
| I see him, cloath'd in snow;--'tis he.-- | 8 | ········ |
| 'Where have you stay'd? put down your load. | 8 | ········ |
| How have you borne the storm, the cold? | 8 | ········ |
| What horrors did I not forebode-- | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| That Beast is worth his weight in gold.' | 8 | ········ |
| Thus spoke the joyful Wife;--then ran | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And hid in grateful steams her head: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Dapple was hous'd, the hungry Man | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| With joy glanc'd o'er the Children's bed. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| 'What, all asleep!--so best;' he cried: | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| O what a night I've travell'd through! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Unseen, unheard, I might have died; | 8 | ˘/˘/···· |
| But Heaven has brought me safe to you. | 8 | ·/······ |
| 'Dear Partner of my nights and days, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| That smile becomes thee!--Let us then | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Learn, though mishap may cross our ways, | 8 | ··/···/· |
| It is not ours to reckon when.' | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
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