The Divine Lullaby
I hear Thy voice, dear Lord;I hear it by the stormy seaWhen winter nights are black and wild,And when, affright, I call to Thee;It calms my fears and whispers me,"Sleep well, my child."
I hear Thy voice, dear Lord,In singing winds, in falling snow,The curfew chimes, the midnight bell."Sleep well, my child," it murmurs low;"The guardian angels come and go,--O child, sleep well!"
I hear Thy voice, dear Lord,Ay, though the singing winds be stilled,Though hushed the tumult of the deep,My fainting heart with anguish chilledBy Thy assuring tone is thrilled,--"Fear not, and sleep!"
Speak on--speak on, dear Lord!And when the last dread night is near,With doubts and fears and terrors wild,Oh, let my soul expiring hearOnly these words of heavenly cheer,"Sleep well, my child!"
Words in this poem
- curfew n.
- The ringing of an evening bell, originally a signal to the inhabitants to cover fires, extinguish lights, and retire to rest, -- instituted by William the Conqueror; also, the bell itself. [OE. courfew, curfu, fr. OF. cuevrefu, covrefeu, F. couvre-feu; covrir to cover + feu fire, fr. L. focus fireplace, hearth. See Cover, and Focus.]
- chilled a.
- Hardened on the surface or edge by chilling; as, chilled iron; a chilled wheel.
- assuring a.
- That assures; tending to assure; giving confidence.
- expiring a.
- Breathing out air from the lungs; emitting fluid or volatile matter; exhaling; breathing the last breath; dying; ending; terminating.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Divine Lullaby is in the public domain. This text is taken from A Little Book of Western Verse, Project Gutenberg ebook #9606; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Eugene Field, The Divine Lullaby, in A Little Book of Western Verse (1889), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9606, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/field-western-verse/the-divine-lullaby.html, id L24638.
Form and metre
The Divine Lullaby is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
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 -ABAAB lord · seaA · wildB · theeA · meA · childB
- 2 -ABAAB lord · snowA · bellB · lowA · goA · wellB
- 3 -ABAAB lord · stilledA · deepB · chilledA · thrilledA · sleepB
- 4 -ABAAB lord · nearA · wildB · hearA · cheerA · childB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I hear Thy voice, dear Lord; | 6 | ······ |
| I hear it by the stormy sea | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| When winter nights are black and wild, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And when, affright, I call to Thee; | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| It calms my fears and whispers me, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| "Sleep well, my child." | 4 | ···· |
| I hear Thy voice, dear Lord, | 6 | ······ |
| In singing winds, in falling snow, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The curfew chimes, the midnight bell. | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| "Sleep well, my child," it murmurs low; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| "The guardian angels come and go,-- | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| O child, sleep well!" | 4 | ···· |
| I hear Thy voice, dear Lord, | 6 | ······ |
| Ay, though the singing winds be stilled, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Though hushed the tumult of the deep, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| My fainting heart with anguish chilled | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| By Thy assuring tone is thrilled,-- | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| "Fear not, and sleep!" | 4 | ···· |
| Speak on--speak on, dear Lord! | 6 | ······ |
| And when the last dread night is near, | 8 | ········ |
| With doubts and fears and terrors wild, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Oh, let my soul expiring hear | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Only these words of heavenly cheer, | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| "Sleep well, my child!" | 4 | ···· |
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.