Winter Nightfall
The day begins to droop,--Its course is done:But nothing tells the placeOf the setting sun.
The hazy darkness deepens,And up the laneYou may hear, but cannot see,The homing wain.
An engine pants and humsIn the farm hard by:Its lowering smoke is lostIn the lowering sky.
The soaking branches drip,And all night throughThe dropping will not ceaseIn the avenue.
A tall man there in the houseMust keep his chair:He knows he will never againBreathe the spring air:
His heart is worn with work;He is giddy and sickIf he rise to go as farAs the nearest rick:
He thinks of his morn of life,His hale, strong years;And braves as he may the nightOf darkness and tears.
Since we loved,--(the earth that shookAs we kissed, fresh beauty took)--Love hath been as poets paint,Life as heaven is to a saint;
All my joys my hope excel,All my work hath prosper'd well,All my songs have happy been,O my love, my life, my queen.
When Death to either shall come,--I pray it be first to me,--Be happy as ever at home,If so, as I wish, it be.
Possess thy heart, my own;And sing to the child on thy knee,Or read to thyself aloneThe songs that I made for thee.
Words in this poem
- hazy a.
- Thick with haze; somewhat obscured with haze; not clear or transparent. [From Haze, n.]
- homing a.
- Home-returning; -- used specifically of carrier pigeons.
- wain n.
- A four-wheeled vehicle for the transportation of goods, produce, etc.; a wagon. [OE. wain, AS. wægn; akin to D. & G. wagen, OHG. wagan, Icel. & Sw. vagn, Dan. vogn, and E. way. Way, Weigh, and cf. Wagon.]
- drip v. i.
- To fall in drops; as, water drips from the eaves. [Akin to LG. drippen, Dan. dryppe, from a noun. See Drop.]
- avenue n.
- A way or opening for entrance into a place; a passage by which a place may by reached; a way of approach or of exit. [F. avenue, fr. avenir to come to, L. advenire. See Advene.]
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
- 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
Winter Nightfall is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Robert Bridges, Excluding the Eight Dramas, Project Gutenberg ebook #37804; 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 Bridges, Winter Nightfall, in Poetical Works (1873–1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #37804, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bridges-shorter-poems/winter-nightfall.html, id L01813.
Form and metre
Winter Nightfall is 44 lines in 11 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.2 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 30% 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 -A-A droop · doneA · place · sunA
- 2 -A-A deepens · laneA · see · wainA
- 3 -A-A hums · byA · lost · skyA
- 4 -A-A drip · throughA · cease · avenueA
- 5 -A-A house · chairA · again · airA
- 6 -A-A work · sickA · far · rickA
- 7 -A-A life · yearsA · night · tearsA
- 8 AABB shookA · tookA · paintB · saintB
- 9 AA-- excelA · wellA · been · queen
- 10 ABAB comeA · meB · homeA · beB
- 11 ABAB ownA · kneeB · aloneA · theeB
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 day begins to droop,-- | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| Its course is done: | 4 | ···· |
| But nothing tells the place | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Of the setting sun. | 5 | ··/˘· |
| The hazy darkness deepens, | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| And up the lane | 4 | ···· |
| You may hear, but cannot see, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| The homing wain. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| An engine pants and hums | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| In the farm hard by: | 5 | ····· |
| Its lowering smoke is lost | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| In the lowering sky. | 6 | ··/˘˘· |
| The soaking branches drip, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| And all night through | 4 | ···· |
| The dropping will not cease | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| In the avenue. | 5 | ··/˘· |
| A tall man there in the house | 7 | ······· |
| Must keep his chair: | 4 | ···· |
| He knows he will never again | 8 | ····/˘˘/ |
| Breathe the spring air: | 4 | ···· |
| His heart is worn with work; | 6 | ······ |
| He is giddy and sick | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| If he rise to go as far | 7 | ······· |
| As the nearest rick: | 5 | ··/˘· |
| He thinks of his morn of life, | 7 | ······· |
| His hale, strong years; | 4 | ···· |
| And braves as he may the night | 7 | ······· |
| Of darkness and tears. | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Since we loved,--(the earth that shook | 7 | ······· |
| As we kissed, fresh beauty took)-- | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Love hath been as poets paint, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Life as heaven is to a saint; | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| All my joys my hope excel, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| All my work hath prosper'd well, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| All my songs have happy been, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| O my love, my life, my queen. | 7 | ······· |
| When Death to either shall come,-- | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| I pray it be first to me,-- | 7 | ······· |
| Be happy as ever at home, | 8 | ·/˘·/˘·· |
| If so, as I wish, it be. | 7 | ······· |
| Possess thy heart, my own; | 6 | ˘/···· |
| And sing to the child on thy knee, | 8 | ········ |
| Or read to thyself alone | 7 | ···˘/˘/ |
| The songs that I made for thee. | 7 | ······· |
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.