At Dawn of Day
THE yellow lighthouse star is quenchedAcross the lonely sea;The mountains rend their misty veils,The wind of dawn blows free;The waves beat with a gladder thrill,Pulsing in lines of spray,And fast and far chime on the bar—God bless my Dear to-day!
A thousand leagues may lie betweenA world of distance dim;But speeding with the speeding lightMy heart goes forth to him.Faster than wind or wave it flies,As love and longing may,And undenied stands by his side—God bless my Dear to-day!
God bless him if he wake to smiles,Or if he wake to sighs;Temper his will to bear all fate,And keep him true and wise;Be to him all I fain would beWho am so far away,—Light, counsel, consolation, cheer—God bless my Dear to-day!
The gradual light has grown full fain,And streameth far abroad.The urgence of my voiceless pleaIs gathered up by God.Take some sweet thing which else were mine,Inly I dare to pray,And with it brim his cup of joy—God bless my Dear to-day!
Words in this poem
- gladder n.
- One who makes glad.
- chime n.
- The harmonious sound of bells, or of musical instruments. [OE. chimbe, prop., cymbal, OF. cymbe, cymble, in a dialectic form, chymble, F. cymbale, L. cymbalum, fr. Gr. Cymbal.]
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- voiceless a.
- Having no voice, utterance, or vote; silent; mute; dumb.
- inly a.
- Internal; interior; secret. [OE. inlich, AS. inlic. See In.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
At Dawn of Day 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, At Dawn of Day, in A Few More Verses (1889), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #49518, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/coolidge-few-more-verses/at-dawn-of-day.html, id L23466.
Form and metre
At Dawn of Day is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
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 -A-A-B-B quenched · seaA · veils · freeA · thrill · sprayB · bar · dayB
- 2 -A-A-B-B between · dimA · light · himA · flies · mayB · side · dayB
- 3 -A-A-B-B smiles · sighsA · fate · wiseA · be · awayB · cheer · dayB
- 4 -----A-A fain · abroad · plea · god · mine · prayA · joy · dayA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| THE yellow lighthouse star is quenched | 8 | ·/˘/···· |
| Across the lonely sea; | 6 | ˘/·/˘· |
| The mountains rend their misty veils, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The wind of dawn blows free; | 6 | ······ |
| The waves beat with a gladder thrill, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Pulsing in lines of spray, | 6 | /˘···· |
| And fast and far chime on the bar— | 8 | ········ |
| God bless my Dear to-day! | 6 | ······ |
| A thousand leagues may lie between | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A world of distance dim; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| But speeding with the speeding light | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| My heart goes forth to him. | 6 | ······ |
| Faster than wind or wave it flies, | 8 | /˘······ |
| As love and longing may, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And undenied stands by his side— | 7 | ······· |
| God bless my Dear to-day! | 6 | ······ |
| God bless him if he wake to smiles, | 8 | ········ |
| Or if he wake to sighs; | 6 | ······ |
| Temper his will to bear all fate, | 8 | /˘······ |
| And keep him true and wise; | 6 | ······ |
| Be to him all I fain would be | 8 | ········ |
| Who am so far away,— | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Light, counsel, consolation, cheer— | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| God bless my Dear to-day! | 6 | ······ |
| The gradual light has grown full fain, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And streameth far abroad. | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| The urgence of my voiceless plea | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Is gathered up by God. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Take some sweet thing which else were mine, | 8 | ········ |
| Inly I dare to pray, | 6 | /˘···· |
| And with it brim his cup of joy— | 8 | ········ |
| God bless my Dear to-day! | 6 | ······ |
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.