A Day-Time Moon
UP in the shining and sun-lighted blue,Where foam-white clouds sail like a fairy fleet,The pale moon hovers, glimmering wanly through,Like a sad chord in chorus gay and sweet.
Frailer than cloud she seems, and torn and frayed;A little wandering fragment, drifting slow,Of that brave golden summer moon which madeMidnight so beautiful awhile ago.
Why comes she back at this untimely hour,When noon is nigh and birds are singing clear,And the fierce sun, her rival, burns with power?—What can the poor, the pretty moon want here?
Does she feel lonely in the peopled sky,The only moon among a starry host;They all together in brave company,She wandering solitary as a ghost?
Or does she grieve that we so soon forgetThe perfect beauty of her tempered ray,Drowsily praising her sweet beams, but yetKeeping our real joyance for the day?
Poor, pallid moon, with a reproachful faceShe eyes the humming world as on it moves,Yearning through the vast intervening spaceFor some one who remembers her and loves.
And like a homesick spirit, sad at heart,To heaven’s happy ways not wonted yet,She seems to murmur when she strays apart:“I still am faithful; but you all forget.”
Words in this poem
- wanly adv.
- In a wan, or pale, manner.
- awhile adv.
- For a while; for some time; for a short time. [Adj. a + while time, interval.]
- peopled a.
- Stocked with, or as with, people; inhabited.
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
- 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.]
- drowsily adv.
- In a drowsy manner.
- joyance n.
- Enjoyment; gayety; festivity; joyfulness. [OF. joiance.]
- homesick a.
- Pining for home; in a nostalgic condition.
- wonted a.
- Accustomed; customary; usual.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Day-Time Moon is in the public domain. This text is taken from A Few More Verses, Project Gutenberg ebook #49518; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Susan Coolidge, A Day-Time Moon, in A Few More Verses (1889), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #49518, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/coolidge-few-more-verses/a-day-time-moon.html, id L23438.
Form and metre
A Day-Time Moon is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 5 of its 7 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
See 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 ABAB blueA · fleetB · throughA · sweetB
- 2 ABAB frayedA · slowB · madeA · agoB
- 3 ABAB hourA · clearB · powerA · hereB
- 4 -A-A sky · hostA · company · ghostA
- 5 ABAB forgetA · rayB · yetA · dayB
- 6 A-A- faceA · moves · spaceA · loves
- 7 ABAB heartA · yetB · apartA · forgetB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| UP in the shining and sun-lighted blue, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Where foam-white clouds sail like a fairy fleet, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The pale moon hovers, glimmering wanly through, | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| Like a sad chord in chorus gay and sweet. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Frailer than cloud she seems, and torn and frayed; | 10 | ·········· |
| A little wandering fragment, drifting slow, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| Of that brave golden summer moon which made | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Midnight so beautiful awhile ago. | 10 | /··/˘˘˘/˘/ |
| Why comes she back at this untimely hour, | 11 | ······˘/˘/˘ |
| When noon is nigh and birds are singing clear, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And the fierce sun, her rival, burns with power?— | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| What can the poor, the pretty moon want here? | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Does she feel lonely in the peopled sky, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| The only moon among a starry host; | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| They all together in brave company, | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘˘ |
| She wandering solitary as a ghost? | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘··· |
| Or does she grieve that we so soon forget | 10 | ········˘/ |
| The perfect beauty of her tempered ray, | 10 | ·/·/˘··/˘· |
| Drowsily praising her sweet beams, but yet | 10 | /˘˘/˘····· |
| Keeping our real joyance for the day? | 10 | /˘/˘·/˘··· |
| Poor, pallid moon, with a reproachful face | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| She eyes the humming world as on it moves, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Yearning through the vast intervening space | 10 | /˘····˘/˘· |
| For some one who remembers her and loves. | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| And like a homesick spirit, sad at heart, | 10 | ···/·/˘··· |
| To heaven’s happy ways not wonted yet, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| She seems to murmur when she strays apart: | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| “I still am faithful; but you all forget.” | 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.