Sunset and Storm
Deep with divine tautology,The sunset's mighty mysteryAgain has traced the scroll-like westWith hieroglyphs of burning gold:Forever new, forever old,Its miracle is manifest.
Time lays the scroll away. And nowAbove the hills a giant browOf cloud Night lifts; and from his arm,Barbaric black, upon the world,With thunder, wind and fire, is hurledHis awful argument of storm.
What part, O man, is yours in such?Whose awe and wonder are in touchWith Nature,--speaking rapture toYour soul,--yet leaving in your reachNo human word of thought or speechCommensurate with the thing you view.
Words in this poem
- barbaric a.
- Of, or from, barbarian nations; foreign; -- often with reference to barbarous nations of east. [L. barbaricus foreign, barbaric, Gr. .]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sunset and Storm 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, Sunset and Storm, in Poems (1911), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cawein-poems/sunset-and-storm.html, id L10882.
Form and metre
Sunset and Storm is 18 lines in 3 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 96% 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. 50% 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 tautology · mystery · westA · goldB · oldB · manifestA
- 2 AA-BB- nowA · browA · arm · worldB · hurledB · storm
- 3 AABCCB suchA · touchA · toB · reachC · speechC · viewB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Deep with divine tautology, | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘˘ |
| The sunset's mighty mystery | 8 | ·/·/˘/˘˘ |
| Again has traced the scroll-like west | 8 | ˘/······ |
| With hieroglyphs of burning gold: | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Forever new, forever old, | 8 | ˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| Its miracle is manifest. | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| Time lays the scroll away. And now | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Above the hills a giant brow | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Of cloud Night lifts; and from his arm, | 8 | ········ |
| Barbaric black, upon the world, | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| With thunder, wind and fire, is hurled | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| His awful argument of storm. | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘·· |
| What part, O man, is yours in such? | 8 | ········ |
| Whose awe and wonder are in touch | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| With Nature,--speaking rapture to | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Your soul,--yet leaving in your reach | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| No human word of thought or speech | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Commensurate with the thing you view. | 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.