In a Graveyard
In the dewy depths of the graveyardI lie in the tangled grass,And watch, in the sea of azure,The white cloud-islands pass.
The birds in the rustling branchesSing gaily overhead;Grey stones like sentinel spectresAre guarding the silent dead.
The early flowers sleep shadedIn the cool green noonday glooms;The broken light falls shudderingOn the cold white face of the tombs.
Without, the world is smilingIn the infinite love of God,But the sunlight fails and faltersWhen it falls on the churchyard sod.
On me the joyous raptureOf a heart's first love is shed,But it falls on my heart as coldlyAs sunlight on the dead.
Words in this poem
- graveyard n.
- A yard or inclosure for the interment of the dead; a cemetery.
- gaily adv.
- Merrily; showily. See gaily. [From Gay.]
- noonday n.
- Midday; twelve o'clock in the day; noon.
- churchyard n.
- The ground adjoining a church, in which the dead are buried; a cemetery.
- coldly adv.
- In a cold manner; without warmth, animation, or feeling; with indifference; calmly.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
In a Graveyard is in the public domain. This text is taken from Pike County Ballads and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #6062; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Hay, In a Graveyard, in Pike County Ballads and Other Poems (1871), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6062, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hay-pike-county/in-a-graveyard.html, id L21622.
Form and metre
In a Graveyard is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%).
See other poems in common measure.
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 graveyard · grassA · azure · passA
- 2 -A-A branches · overheadA · spectres · deadA
- 3 -A-A shaded · gloomsA · shuddering · tombsA
- 4 -A-A smiling · godA · falters · sodA
- 5 -A-A rapture · shedA · coldly · deadA
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| In the dewy depths of the graveyard | 9 | ··/˘···/· |
| I lie in the tangled grass, | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| And watch, in the sea of azure, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| The white cloud-islands pass. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The birds in the rustling branches | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Sing gaily overhead; | 6 | ·/˘/˘/ |
| Grey stones like sentinel spectres | 8 | ···/˘˘/˘ |
| Are guarding the silent dead. | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| The early flowers sleep shaded | 8 | ·/˘/˘·/˘ |
| In the cool green noonday glooms; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| The broken light falls shuddering | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| On the cold white face of the tombs. | 8 | ········ |
| Without, the world is smiling | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| In the infinite love of God, | 8 | ··/˘˘··· |
| But the sunlight fails and falters | 8 | ··/···/˘ |
| When it falls on the churchyard sod. | 8 | ·····/·· |
| On me the joyous rapture | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Of a heart's first love is shed, | 7 | ······· |
| But it falls on my heart as coldly | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| As sunlight on the dead. | 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.