Night
Now great Hyperion left his golden throneThat on the dancing waves in glory shone,For whose declining on the western shoreThe oriental hills black mantles wore,And thence apace the gentle twilight fled,That had from hideous caverns usheredAll-drowsy Night, who in a car of jet,By steeds of iron-grey, which mainly sweatMoist drops on all the world, drawn through the sky,The helps of darkness waited orderly.First thick clouds rose from all the liquid plains;Then mists from marishes, and grounds whose veinsWere conduit-pipes to many a crystal spring;From standing pools and fens were followingUnhealthy fogs; each river, every rillSent up their vapours to attend her willThese pitchy curtains drew 'twixt earth and heavenAnd as Night's chariot through the air was driven,Clamour grew dumb, unheard was shepherd's songAnd silence girt the woods; no warbling tongueTalk'd to the Echo; satyrs broke their dance,And all the upper world lay in a trance.Only the curled streams soft chidings kept;And little gales that from the green leaf sweptDry summer's dust, in fearful whisp'rings stirred.As loath to waken any singing bird.
Words in this poem
- hyperion n.
- The god of the sun; in the later mythology identified with Apollo, and distinguished for his beauty.
- apace adv.
- With a quick pace; quick; fast; speedily. [Pref. a- + pace. OE. a pas at a walk, in which a is the article. See Pace.]
- rill n.
- A very small brook; a streamlet. [Cf. LG. rille a small channel or brook, a furrow, a chamfer, OE. rigol a small brook, F. rigole a trench or furrow for water, W. rhill a row, rhigol a little di]
- pitchy a.
- Partaking of the qualities of pitch; resembling pitch. [From 1st Pitch.]
- clamour n.
- A great outcry or vociferation; loud and continued shouting or exclamation. [OF. clamour, clamur, F. clameur, fr. L. clamor, fr. clamare to cry out. See Claim.]
- unheard a.
- Not heard; not perceived by the ear; as, words unheard by those present.
- girt v. t.
- To gird; to encircle; to invest by means of a girdle; to measure the girth of; as, to girt a tree. [From Girt, n., cf. Girth, v.]
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- loath a.
- Hateful; odious; disliked. [OE. looth, loth, AS. la hostile, odious; akin to OS. l, G. leid, Icel. lei, Sw. led, G. leiden to suffer, OHG. lidan to suffer, go, cf. AS. li to go, Goth. leip]
- waken v. i.
- To wake; to cease to sleep; to be awakened. [OE. waknen, AS. wæcnan; akin to Goth. gawaknan. See Wake, v. i.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Night is in the public domain. This text is taken from Pastoral Poems by Nicholas Breton, Selected Poetry by George Wither, and Pastoral Poetry by William Browne (of Tavistock), Project Gutenberg ebook #22001; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Nicholas Breton, Night, in Pastoral Poems and Selected Poetry (1597–1604), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22001, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/breton-poems/night.html, id L08858.
Form and metre
Night is 26 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 77% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 46% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in heroic couplets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 AABBCCDD--EEFFGG----HHIIJJ throneA · shoneA · shoreB · woreB · fledC · usheredC · jetD · sweatD · sky · orderly · plainsE · veinsE · springF · followingF · rillG · willG · heaven · driven · song · tongue · danceH · tranceH · keptI · sweptI · stirredJ · birdJ
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Now great Hyperion left his golden throne | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| That on the dancing waves in glory shone, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| For whose declining on the western shore | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| The oriental hills black mantles wore, | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| And thence apace the gentle twilight fled, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘/·· |
| That had from hideous caverns ushered | 10 | ···/˘˘/˘/˘ |
| All-drowsy Night, who in a car of jet, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| By steeds of iron-grey, which mainly sweat | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Moist drops on all the world, drawn through the sky, | 10 | ·········· |
| The helps of darkness waited orderly. | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘˘ |
| First thick clouds rose from all the liquid plains; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Then mists from marishes, and grounds whose veins | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| Were conduit-pipes to many a crystal spring; | 10 | ·/˘··/·/˘· |
| From standing pools and fens were following | 10 | ·/˘····/˘˘ |
| Unhealthy fogs; each river, every rill | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Sent up their vapours to attend her will | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| These pitchy curtains drew 'twixt earth and heaven | 11 | ·/˘/˘····/˘ |
| And as Night's chariot through the air was driven, | 10 | ···/˘····/ |
| Clamour grew dumb, unheard was shepherd's song | 10 | /˘··˘/·/˘· |
| And silence girt the woods; no warbling tongue | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Talk'd to the Echo; satyrs broke their dance, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And all the upper world lay in a trance. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Only the curled streams soft chidings kept; | 10 | /˘··˘··/˘· |
| And little gales that from the green leaf swept | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Dry summer's dust, in fearful whisp'rings stirred. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| As loath to waken any singing bird. | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
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.