Melancholia
Silently without my window,Tapping gently at the pane,Falls the rain.Through the trees sighs the breezeLike a soul in pain.Here alone I sit and weep;Thought hath banished sleep.
Wearily I sit and listenTo the water's ceaseless drip.To my lipFate turns up the bitter cup,Forcing me to sip;'T is a bitter, bitter drink,Thus I sit and think,--
Thinking things unknown and awful,Thoughts on wild, uncanny themes,Waking dreams.Spectres dark, corpses stark,Show the gaping seamsWhence the cold and cruel knifeStole away their life.
Bloodshot eyes all strained and staring,Gazing ghastly into mine;Blood like wineOn the brow--clotted now--Shows death's dreadful sign.Lonely vigil still I keep;Would that I might sleep!
Still, oh, still, my brain is whirling!Still runs on my stream of thought;I am caughtIn the net fate hath set.Mind and soul are broughtTo destruction's very brink;Yet I can but think!
Eyes that look into the future,--Peeping forth from out my mind,They will findSome new weight, soon or late,On my soul to bind,Crushing all its courage out,--Heavier than doubt.
Dawn, the Eastern monarch's daughter,Rising from her dewy bed,Lays her head'Gainst the clouds' sombre shroudsNow half fringed with red.O'er the land she 'gins to peep;Come, O gentle Sleep!
Hark! the morning cock is crowing;Dreams, like ghosts, must hie away;'Tis the day.Rosy morn now is born;Dark thoughts may not stay.Day my brain from foes will keep;Now, my soul, I sleep.
Words in this poem
- pane n.
- The narrow edge of a hammer head. See Peen. [F. panne.]
- wearily adv.
- In a weary manner.
- ceaseless a.
- Without pause or end; incessant.
- drip v. i.
- To fall in drops; as, water drips from the eaves. [Akin to LG. drippen, Dan. dryppe, from a noun. See Drop.]
- uncanny a.
- Not canny; unsafe; strange; weird; ghostly.
- stark adv.
- Wholly; entirely; absolutely; quite; as, stark mind.
- stole n.
- A long, loose garment reaching to the feet. [AS. stole, L. stola, Gr. stall. See Stall.]
- bloodshot a.
- Red and inflamed; suffused with blood, or having the vessels turgid with blood, as when the conjunctiva is inflamed or irritated. [Blood + shot, p. p. of shoot to variegate.]
- dreadful a.
- Full of dread or terror; fearful.
- vigil n.
- Abstinence from sleep, whether at a time when sleep is customary or not; the act of keeping awake, or the state of being awake, or the state of being awake; sleeplessness; wakefulness; watch. [OE. vigile, L. vigilia, from vigil awake, watchful, probably akin to E. wake: cf. F. vigile. See Wake, v. i., and cf. Reveille, Surveillance, Vedette, Vegetable]
- brink n.
- The edge, margin, or border of a steep place, as of a precipice; a bank or edge, as of a river or pit; a verge; a border; as, the brink of a chasm. Also Fig. [Dan. brink edge, verge; akin to Sw. brink declivity, hill, Icel. brekka; cf. LG. brink a grassy hill, W. bryn hill, bryncyn hillock.]
- sombre n.
- Gloom; obscurity; duskiness; somberness.
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Melancholia is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar, Project Gutenberg ebook #18338; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Paul Laurence Dunbar, Melancholia, in The Complete Poems (1893–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18338, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dunbar-poems/melancholia.html, id L00542.
Form and metre
Melancholia is 56 lines in 8 stanzas of 7 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 57% of the lines. 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.9 syllables. 8 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 20% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in rhyming couplets.
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 -AA-ABB window · paneA · rainA · breeze · painA · weepB · sleepB
- 2 -AA-ABB listen · dripA · lipA · cup · sipA · drinkB · thinkB
- 3 -AA-ABB awful · themesA · dreamsA · stark · seamsA · knifeB · lifeB
- 4 -AA-ABB staring · mineA · wineA · now · signA · keepB · sleepB
- 5 -AA-ABB whirling · thoughtA · caughtA · set · broughtA · brinkB · thinkB
- 6 -AA-ABB future · mindA · findA · late · bindA · outB · doubtB
- 7 -AA-ABB daughter · bedA · headA · shrouds · redA · peepB · sleepB
- 8 -AA-ABB crowing · awayA · dayA · born · stayA · keepB · sleepB
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Silently without my window, | 8 | /˘˘···/˘ |
| Tapping gently at the pane, | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Falls the rain. | 3 | ··· |
| Through the trees sighs the breeze | 6 | ······ |
| Like a soul in pain. | 5 | ····· |
| Here alone I sit and weep; | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| Thought hath banished sleep. | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Wearily I sit and listen | 8 | /˘˘···/˘ |
| To the water's ceaseless drip. | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| To my lip | 3 | ··· |
| Fate turns up the bitter cup, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Forcing me to sip; | 5 | /˘··· |
| 'T is a bitter, bitter drink, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Thus I sit and think,-- | 5 | ····· |
| Thinking things unknown and awful, | 8 | /˘·˘/·/˘ |
| Thoughts on wild, uncanny themes, | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| Waking dreams. | 3 | /˘· |
| Spectres dark, corpses stark, | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| Show the gaping seams | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Whence the cold and cruel knife | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Stole away their life. | 5 | ·˘/·· |
| Bloodshot eyes all strained and staring, | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| Gazing ghastly into mine; | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Blood like wine | 3 | ··· |
| On the brow--clotted now-- | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Shows death's dreadful sign. | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Lonely vigil still I keep; | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Would that I might sleep! | 5 | ····· |
| Still, oh, still, my brain is whirling! | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Still runs on my stream of thought; | 7 | ······· |
| I am caught | 3 | ··· |
| In the net fate hath set. | 6 | ······ |
| Mind and soul are brought | 5 | ····· |
| To destruction's very brink; | 7 | ·˘/˘/˘· |
| Yet I can but think! | 5 | ····· |
| Eyes that look into the future,-- | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Peeping forth from out my mind, | 7 | /˘····· |
| They will find | 3 | ··· |
| Some new weight, soon or late, | 6 | ······ |
| On my soul to bind, | 5 | ····· |
| Crushing all its courage out,-- | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Heavier than doubt. | 5 | /˘˘·· |
| Dawn, the Eastern monarch's daughter, | 8 | ··/˘/·/˘ |
| Rising from her dewy bed, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Lays her head | 3 | ··· |
| 'Gainst the clouds' sombre shrouds | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Now half fringed with red. | 5 | ····· |
| O'er the land she 'gins to peep; | 7 | ······· |
| Come, O gentle Sleep! | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Hark! the morning cock is crowing; | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Dreams, like ghosts, must hie away; | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| 'Tis the day. | 3 | ··· |
| Rosy morn now is born; | 6 | /˘···· |
| Dark thoughts may not stay. | 5 | ····· |
| Day my brain from foes will keep; | 7 | ······· |
| Now, my soul, I sleep. | 5 | ····· |
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.