Night of Love
The moon has left the sky, love,The stars are hiding now,And frowning on the world, love,Night bares her sable brow.The snow is on the ground, love,And cold and keen the air is.I 'm singing here to you, love;You 're dreaming there in Paris.
But this is Nature's law, love,Though just it may not seem,That men should wake to sing, love,While maidens sleep and dream.Them care may not molest, love,Nor stir them from their slumbers,Though midnight find the swain, love,Still halting o'er his numbers.
I watch the rosy dawn, love,Come stealing up the east,While all things round rejoice, love,That Night her reign has ceased.The lark will soon be heard, love,And on his way be winging;When Nature's poets wake, love,Why should a man be singing?
Words in this poem
- sable n.
- A carnivorous animal of the Weasel family (Mustela zibellina) native of the northern latitudes of Europe, Asia, and America, -- noted for its fine, soft, and valuable fur. [OF. sable, F. zibeline sable (in sense 4), LL. sabellum; cf. D. sabel, Dan. sabel, zobel, Sw. sabel, sobel, G. zobel; all fr. Russ. sóbole.]
- molest v. t.
- To trouble; to disturb; to render uneasy; to interfere with; to vex. [F. molester, L. molestare, fr. molestus troublesome, fr. moles a heavy mass, load, burden. See 3d Mole.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Night of Love 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, Night of Love, in The Complete Poems (1893–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18338, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dunbar-poems/night-of-love.html, id L00531.
Form and metre
Night of Love is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABACAC, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.9 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
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 ABABA-A- loveA · nowB · loveA · browB · loveA · is · loveA · paris
- 2 ABABACAC loveA · seemB · loveA · dreamB · loveA · slumbersC · loveA · numbersC
- 3 ABABACAC loveA · eastB · loveA · ceasedB · loveA · wingingC · loveA · singingC
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 moon has left the sky, love, | 7 | ······· |
| The stars are hiding now, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And frowning on the world, love, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Night bares her sable brow. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The snow is on the ground, love, | 7 | ······· |
| And cold and keen the air is. | 7 | ······· |
| I 'm singing here to you, love; | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| You 're dreaming there in Paris. | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| But this is Nature's law, love, | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Though just it may not seem, | 6 | ······ |
| That men should wake to sing, love, | 7 | ······· |
| While maidens sleep and dream. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Them care may not molest, love, | 7 | ····˘/· |
| Nor stir them from their slumbers, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Though midnight find the swain, love, | 7 | ·/····· |
| Still halting o'er his numbers. | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| I watch the rosy dawn, love, | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Come stealing up the east, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| While all things round rejoice, love, | 7 | ····˘/· |
| That Night her reign has ceased. | 7 | ······˘ |
| The lark will soon be heard, love, | 7 | ······· |
| And on his way be winging; | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| When Nature's poets wake, love, | 7 | ·/˘/˘·· |
| Why should a man be singing? | 7 | ·····/˘ |
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.