The moon is mad, and dimly burns
The moon is mad, and dimly burns,And with her prying fingers turnsInside out thicket and copseCuriously, and then she stopsStaring about her, and the downGrows sharp in sadness gathering round,Powdering each darkling rockAnd the hunchèd grain in shockOn shock in solemn rows;And after each a shadow goesStaring skyward, listeningInto the silence glisteningWith watching stars that, sharp and sad,Ring the solemn staring madMoon; and winds in monotoneBrood where shaken grain had grownIn bloomless fields that raise their bareBreasts against the dying year.
And yet I do not move, for IAm sad beneath this autumn sky,For I am sudden blind and chillHere beneath my frosty hill,And I cry moonward in stiff painUnheeded, for the moon againStares blandly, while beneath her eyesThe silent world blazes and dies,And leaves slip down and cover meWith sorrow and desire to be—While the world waits, cold and sere—Like it, dead with the dying year.
Words in this poem
- dimly adv.
- In a dim or obscure manner; not brightly or clearly; with imperfect sight.
- prying a.
- Inspecting closely or impertinently.
- copse n.
- A wood of small growth; a thicket of brushwood. See Coppice. [Contr. from coppice.]
- curiously adv.
- In a curious manner.
- sadness n.
- Heaviness; firmness.
- powdering
- a. & n. from Powder, v. t. Powdering tub. (a) A tub or vessel in which meat is corned or salted. (b) A heated tub in which an infected lecher was placed for cure.
- darkling a.
- Becoming dark or gloomy; frowing.
- skyward a.
- Toward the sky.
- monotone n.
- A single unvaried tone or sound. [See Monotonous, Monotony.]
- bloomless a.
- Without bloom or flowers. Shelley.
- blandly adv.
- In a bland manner; mildly; suavely.
- sere n.
- Claw; talon. Chapman. [F. serre.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The moon is mad, and dimly burns is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Marble Faun, Wikisource; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Faulkner, The moon is mad, and dimly burns, in The Marble Faun (1924), text of Wikisource, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/faulkner-marble-faun/section-14.html, id L28626.
Form and metre
The moon is mad, and dimly burns is 30 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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 AABB--CCDDEEFFGGHH burnsA · turnsA · copseB · stopsB · down · round · rockC · shockC · rowsD · goesD · listeningE · glisteningE · sadF · madF · monotoneG · grownG · bareH · yearH
- 2 AABBCCDDEEFF iA · skyA · chillB · hillB · painC · againC · eyesD · diesD · meE · beE · sereF · yearF
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 is mad, and dimly burns, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And with her prying fingers turns | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Inside out thicket and copse | 7 | ˘/·/˘·· |
| Curiously, and then she stops | 8 | /˘˘˘···· |
| Staring about her, and the down | 8 | /˘······ |
| Grows sharp in sadness gathering round, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Powdering each darkling rock | 7 | /˘˘·/˘· |
| And the hunchèd grain in shock | 6 | ······ |
| On shock in solemn rows; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And after each a shadow goes | 8 | ·····/·· |
| Staring skyward, listening | 7 | /˘/˘/˘˘ |
| Into the silence glistening | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| With watching stars that, sharp and sad, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Ring the solemn staring mad | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Moon; and winds in monotone | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Brood where shaken grain had grown | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| In bloomless fields that raise their bare | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Breasts against the dying year. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And yet I do not move, for I | 8 | ········ |
| Am sad beneath this autumn sky, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| For I am sudden blind and chill | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Here beneath my frosty hill, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And I cry moonward in stiff pain | 8 | ········ |
| Unheeded, for the moon again | 8 | ˘/˘···˘/ |
| Stares blandly, while beneath her eyes | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The silent world blazes and dies, | 8 | ·/˘·/˘·· |
| And leaves slip down and cover me | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| With sorrow and desire to be— | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| While the world waits, cold and sere— | 7 | ······· |
| Like it, dead with the dying year. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
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