Premonition
Dear heart, good-night!Nay, list awhile that sweet voice singingWhen the world is all so bright,And the sound of song sets the heart a-ringing,Oh, love, it is not right--Not then to say, "Good-night."
Dear heart, good-night!The late winds in the lake weeds shiver,And the spray flies cold and white.And the voice that sings gives a telltale quiver--"Ah, yes, the world is bright,But, dearest heart, good-night!"
Dear heart, good-night!And do not longer seek to hold me!For my soul is in affrightAs the fearful glooms in their pall enfold me.See him who sang how whiteAnd still; so, dear, good-night.
Dear heart, good-night!Thy hand I 'll press no more forever,And mine eyes shall lose the light;For the great white wraith by the winding riverShall check my steps with might.So, dear, good-night, good-night!
Words in this poem
- awhile adv.
- For a while; for some time; for a short time. [Adj. a + while time, interval.]
- enfold v. t.
- To infold. See Infold.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- wraith n.
- An apparition of a person in his exact likeness, seen before death, or a little after; hence, an apparition; a specter; a vision; an unreal image. [Scot. wraith, warth; probably originally, a guardian angel, from Icel. vörthr a warden, guardian, akin to E. ward. See Ward a guard.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Premonition 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, Premonition, in The Complete Poems (1893–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18338, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dunbar-poems/premonition.html, id L00510.
Form and metre
Premonition is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABAA, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 17% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 ABABAA nightA · singingB · brightA · ringingB · rightA · nightA
- 2 ABABAA nightA · shiverB · whiteA · quiverB · brightA · nightA
- 3 ABABAA nightA · meB · affrightA · meB · whiteA · nightA
- 4 A-A-AA nightA · forever · lightA · river · mightA · nightA
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Dear heart, good-night! | 4 | ···· |
| Nay, list awhile that sweet voice singing | 9 | ··˘/···/˘ |
| When the world is all so bright, | 7 | ······· |
| And the sound of song sets the heart a-ringing, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Oh, love, it is not right-- | 6 | ······ |
| Not then to say, "Good-night." | 6 | ······ |
| Dear heart, good-night! | 4 | ···· |
| The late winds in the lake weeds shiver, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| And the spray flies cold and white. | 7 | ······· |
| And the voice that sings gives a telltale quiver-- | 11 | ·······/·/˘ |
| "Ah, yes, the world is bright, | 6 | ······ |
| But, dearest heart, good-night!" | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Dear heart, good-night! | 4 | ···· |
| And do not longer seek to hold me! | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| For my soul is in affright | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| As the fearful glooms in their pall enfold me. | 11 | ··/˘····˘/· |
| See him who sang how white | 6 | ······ |
| And still; so, dear, good-night. | 6 | ······ |
| Dear heart, good-night! | 4 | ···· |
| Thy hand I 'll press no more forever, | 10 | ·······˘/˘ |
| And mine eyes shall lose the light; | 7 | ······· |
| For the great white wraith by the winding river | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Shall check my steps with might. | 6 | ······ |
| So, dear, good-night, good-night! | 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.