The Valley's Singing Day
The sound of the closing outside door was all.You made no sound in the grass with your footfall,As far as you went from the door, which was not far;But you had awakened under the morning starThe first song-bird that awakened all the rest.He could have slept but a moment more at best.Already determined dawn began to layIn place across a cloud the slender rayFor prying beneath and forcing the lids of sight,And loosing the pent-up music of over-night.But dawn was not to begin their "pearly-pearly"(By which they mean the rain is pearls so early,Before it changes to diamonds in the sun),Neither was song that day to be self-begun.You had begun it, and if there needed proof--I was asleep still under the dripping roof,My window curtain hung over the sill to wet;But I should awake to confirm your story yet;I should be willing to say and help you sayThat once you had opened the valley's singing day.
Words in this poem
- footfall n.
- A setting down of the foot; a footstep; the sound of a footstep.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- prying a.
- Inspecting closely or impertinently.
- dripping n.
- A falling in drops, or the sound so made.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Valley's Singing Day is in the public domain. This text is taken from New Hampshire, A Poem; with Notes and Grace Notes, Project Gutenberg ebook #58611; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Robert Frost, The Valley's Singing Day, in New Hampshire (1923), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #58611, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/frost-new-hampshire/the-valley-s-singing-day.html, id L02710.
Form and metre
The Valley's Singing Day is 20 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets. The metre is iambic hexameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 77%). 82% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 11.2 syllables. 2 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, other poems in iambic hexameter.
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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIDD allA · footfallA · farB · starB · restC · bestC · layD · rayD · sightE · nightE · pearlyF · earlyF · sunG · begunG · proofH · roofH · wetI · yetI · sayD · dayD
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 hexameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The sound of the closing outside door was all. | 11 | ····/˘//··· |
| You made no sound in the grass with your footfall, | 11 | ·········/· |
| As far as you went from the door, which was not far; | 12 | ············ |
| But you had awakened under the morning star | 12 | ···˘/˘···/˘· |
| The first song-bird that awakened all the rest. | 11 | ·····˘/˘··· |
| He could have slept but a moment more at best. | 11 | ······/˘··· |
| Already determined dawn began to lay | 11 | ˘/˘˘/˘·˘/·· |
| In place across a cloud the slender ray | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| For prying beneath and forcing the lids of sight, | 12 | ·/˘···/˘···· |
| And loosing the pent-up music of over-night. | 11 | ·/˘···/˘··· |
| But dawn was not to begin their "pearly-pearly" | 12 | ·····˘/·/˘/˘ |
| (By which they mean the rain is pearls so early, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Before it changes to diamonds in the sun), | 11 | ···/˘·/˘··· |
| Neither was song that day to be self-begun. | 11 | /˘·······˘/ |
| You had begun it, and if there needed proof-- | 11 | ··/˘····/˘· |
| I was asleep still under the dripping roof, | 11 | ··˘/····/˘· |
| My window curtain hung over the sill to wet; | 11 | ·/˘/˘······ |
| But I should awake to confirm your story yet; | 12 | ···˘/·˘/·/˘· |
| I should be willing to say and help you say | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| That once you had opened the valley's singing day. | 12 | ····/˘·/˘/˘· |
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.