Night (To H. S. S.)
The barriers of sleep are crossedAnd I alone am yet awake,Keeping another PentecostFor that new visitation’s sakeOf life descending on the hillsIn blackthorn bloom and daffodils.
At peace upon my pillow lainI celebrate the spirit comeIn spring’s immutable youth againAcross the lands of Christendom;I hear in all the choral hostThe coming of the Holy Ghost.
The sacrament of bough and blade,Of populous folds and building birdsI take, till now an end is madeOf praise and ceremonial words,And I too turn myself to keepThe quiet festival of sleep.
Words in this poem
- immutable a.
- Not mutable; not capable or susceptible of change; unchangeable; unalterable. [L. immutabilis; pref. im- not + mutabilis mutable. See Mutable.]
- christendom n.
- The profession of faith in Christ by baptism; hence, the Christian religion, or the adoption of it. [AS. cristend; cristen a Christian + -dom.]
- choral a.
- Of or pertaining to a choir or chorus; singing, sung, or adapted to be sung, in chorus or harmony. Choral service, a service of song. [LL. choralis, fr. L. chorus. See Chorus.]
- 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.]
- sacrament n.
- The oath of allegiance taken by Roman soldiers; hence, a sacred ceremony used to impress an obligation; a solemn oath-taking; an oath. [L. sacramentum an oath, a sacred thing, a mystery, a sacrament, fr. sacrare to declare as sacred, sacer sacred: cf. F. sacrament. See Sacred.]
- populous a.
- Abounding in people; full of inhabitants; containing many inhabitants in proportion to the extent of the country. [L. populosus, fr. populus people: cf. F. populeux.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Night (To H. S. S.) is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, 1908-1919, Project Gutenberg ebook #51575; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Drinkwater, Night (To H. S. S.), in Poems, 1908-1919 (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #51575, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drinkwater-poems/night-to-h-s-s.html, id L23081.
Form and metre
Night (To H. S. S.) is 18 lines in 3 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCC. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
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 ABABCC crossedA · awakeB · pentecostA · sakeB · hillsC · daffodilsC
- 2 ABABCC lainA · comeB · againA · christendomB · hostC · ghostC
- 3 ABABCC bladeA · birdsB · madeA · wordsB · keepC · sleepC
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 barriers of sleep are crossed | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| And I alone am yet awake, | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| Keeping another Pentecost | 8 | /˘˘/˘/˘· |
| For that new visitation’s sake | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Of life descending on the hills | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| In blackthorn bloom and daffodils. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| At peace upon my pillow lain | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I celebrate the spirit come | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| In spring’s immutable youth again | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
| Across the lands of Christendom; | 8 | ˘/···/˘˘ |
| I hear in all the choral host | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The coming of the Holy Ghost. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The sacrament of bough and blade, | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| Of populous folds and building birds | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| I take, till now an end is made | 8 | ········ |
| Of praise and ceremonial words, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| And I too turn myself to keep | 8 | ·····/·· |
| The quiet festival of sleep. | 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.