Dusk in the Lane
COME, put yer little hand in mine,And let it be at rest,It minds me of a tired birdWithin a warm brown nest;And bend that pretty head o’ your’n,And lay it on my breast.
The lambs they all be wearied out,I penned them in the fold;The lights along the Malvern HillsThey shine like stars o’ gold;And yonder rises up the moon,All round, and big, and bold.
There’s not a single passer-by,Nor sound along the lane,And Oh! the earth be smelling sweet,Like meadows after rain.Then come a little closer, maid,And kiss me once again.
Words in this poem
- penned a.
- Winged; having plumes.
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
- closer n.
- One who, or that which, closes; specifically, a boot closer. See under Boot.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Dusk in the Lane is in the public domain. This text is taken from Songs of Three Counties, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #50591; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Radclyffe Hall, Dusk in the Lane, in Songs of Three Counties, and Other Poems (1913), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #50591, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hall-three-counties/dusk-in-the-lane.html, id L22664.
Form and metre
Dusk in the Lane is 18 lines in 3 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 97%).
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 -A-A-A mine · restA · bird · nestA · your'n · breastA
- 2 -A-A-A out · foldA · hills · goldA · moon · boldA
- 3 -A-A-A by · laneA · sweet · rainA · maid · againA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| COME, put yer little hand in mine, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And let it be at rest, | 6 | ······ |
| It minds me of a tired bird | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Within a warm brown nest; | 6 | ······ |
| And bend that pretty head o’ your’n, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And lay it on my breast. | 6 | ······ |
| The lambs they all be wearied out, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I penned them in the fold; | 6 | ······ |
| The lights along the Malvern Hills | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| They shine like stars o’ gold; | 6 | ······ |
| And yonder rises up the moon, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| All round, and big, and bold. | 6 | ······ |
| There’s not a single passer-by, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Nor sound along the lane, | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| And Oh! the earth be smelling sweet, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Like meadows after rain. | 6 | ·/···· |
| Then come a little closer, maid, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And kiss me once again. | 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.