Dusk in the Woods
Three miles of trees it is: and ICame through the woods that waited, dumb,For the cool summer dusk to come;And lingered there to watch the skyUp which the gradual splendor clomb.
A tree-toad quavered in a tree;And then a sudden whippoorwillCalled overhead, so wildly shrillThe sleeping wood, it seemed to me,Cried out and then again was still.
Then through dark boughs its stealthy flightAn owl took; and, at drowsy strife,The cricket tuned its faery fife;And like a ghost-flower, silent white,The wood-moth glimmered into life.
And in the dead wood everywhereThe insects ticked, or bored belowThe rotted bark; and, glow on glow,The lambent fireflies here and thereLit up their jack-o'-lantern show.
I heard a vesper-sparrow sing,Withdrawn, it seemed, into the farSlow sunset's tranquil cinnabar;The crimson, softly smolderingBehind the trees, with its one star.
A dog barked: and down ways that gleamed,Through dew and clover, faint the noiseOf cowbells moved. And then a voice,That sang a-milking, so it seemed,Made glad my heart as some glad boy's.
And then the lane: and, full in view,A farmhouse with its rose-grown gate,And honeysuckle paths, awaitFor night, the moon, and love and you--These are the things that made me late.
Words in this poem
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- ghost n.
- The spirit; the soul of man. [OE. gast, gost, soul, spirit, AS. gast breath, spirit, soul; akin to OS. g spirit, soul, D. geest, G. geist, and prob. to E. gaze, ghastly.]
- lambent a.
- Playing on the surface; touching lightly; gliding over. [L. lambens, -enlis, p. pr. of lambere to lick; akin to lap. See Lap to drink by licking.]
- farmhouse n.
- A dwelling house on a farm; a farmer's residence.
- await v. t.
- To watch for; to look out for. [OF. awaitier, agaitier; (L. ad) + waitier, gaitier to watch, F. guetter. See Wait.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Dusk in the Woods is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #7796; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Madison Julius Cawein, Dusk in the Woods, in Poems (1911), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cawein-poems/dusk-in-the-woods.html, id L10896.
Form and metre
Dusk in the Woods is 35 lines in 7 stanzas of 5 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABBAB, complete in 5 of its 7 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 34% 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 ABBA- iA · dumbB · comeB · skyA · clomb
- 2 ABBAB treeA · whippoorwillB · shrillB · meA · stillB
- 3 ABBAB flightA · strifeB · fifeB · whiteA · lifeB
- 4 ABBAB everywhereA · belowB · glowB · thereA · showB
- 5 ABBAB singA · farB · cinnabarB · smolderingA · starB
- 6 AB-AB gleamedA · noiseB · voice · seemedA · boy'sB
- 7 ABBAB viewA · gateB · awaitB · youA · lateB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Three miles of trees it is: and I | 8 | ········ |
| Came through the woods that waited, dumb, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| For the cool summer dusk to come; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And lingered there to watch the sky | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Up which the gradual splendor clomb. | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| A tree-toad quavered in a tree; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And then a sudden whippoorwill | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Called overhead, so wildly shrill | 8 | ·/˘/·/˘· |
| The sleeping wood, it seemed to me, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Cried out and then again was still. | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Then through dark boughs its stealthy flight | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| An owl took; and, at drowsy strife, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The cricket tuned its faery fife; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And like a ghost-flower, silent white, | 8 | ····//˘· |
| The wood-moth glimmered into life. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And in the dead wood everywhere | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The insects ticked, or bored below | 8 | ·/······ |
| The rotted bark; and, glow on glow, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The lambent fireflies here and there | 9 | ·/˘/˘···· |
| Lit up their jack-o'-lantern show. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I heard a vesper-sparrow sing, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Withdrawn, it seemed, into the far | 8 | ˘/······ |
| Slow sunset's tranquil cinnabar; | 8 | ·/·/˘/˘· |
| The crimson, softly smoldering | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘˘ |
| Behind the trees, with its one star. | 8 | ········ |
| A dog barked: and down ways that gleamed, | 8 | ········ |
| Through dew and clover, faint the noise | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Of cowbells moved. And then a voice, | 8 | ·/······ |
| That sang a-milking, so it seemed, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Made glad my heart as some glad boy's. | 8 | ········ |
| And then the lane: and, full in view, | 8 | ········ |
| A farmhouse with its rose-grown gate, | 8 | ·/······ |
| And honeysuckle paths, await | 8 | ·/˘·˘·˘/ |
| For night, the moon, and love and you-- | 8 | ········ |
| These are the things that made me late. | 8 | ········ |
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.