Night
The night has cuteach from eachand curled the petalsback from the stalkand under it in crisp rows;
under at an unfaltering pace,under till the rinds break,back till each bent leafis parted from its stalk;
under at a grave pace,under till the leavesare bent backtill they drop upon earth,back till they are all broken.
O night,you take the petalsof the roses in your hand,but leave the stark coreof the roseto perish on the branch.
Words in this poem
- stark adv.
- Wholly; entirely; absolutely; quite; as, stark mind.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Night is in the public domain. This text is taken from Sea Garden, Project Gutenberg ebook #28665; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: H.D., Night, in Sea Garden (1916), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #28665, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hd-sea-garden/night.html, id L08276.
Form and metre
Night is 20 lines in 4 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.2 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 50% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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.
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The night has cut | 4 | ···· |
| each from each | 3 | ··· |
| and curled the petals | 5 | ···/˘ |
| back from the stalk | 4 | ···· |
| and under it in crisp rows; | 7 | ······· |
| under at an unfaltering pace, | 9 | ········· |
| under till the rinds break, | 6 | ······ |
| back till each bent leaf | 5 | ····· |
| is parted from its stalk; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| under at a grave pace, | 6 | ······ |
| under till the leaves | 5 | ····· |
| are bent back | 3 | ··· |
| till they drop upon earth, | 6 | ······ |
| back till they are all broken. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| O night, | 2 | ·· |
| you take the petals | 5 | ···/˘ |
| of the roses in your hand, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| but leave the stark core | 5 | ····· |
| of the rose | 3 | ··· |
| to perish on the branch. | 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.