It came with the threat of a waning moon
IT came with the threat of a waning moonAnd the wail of an ebbing tide,But many a woman has lived for less,And many a man has died;For life upon life took hold and passed,Strong in a fate set free,Out of the deep into the darkOn for the years to be.
Between the gloom of a waning moonAnd the song of an ebbing tide,Chance upon chance of love and deathTook wing for the world so wide.O, leaf out of leaf is the way of the land,Wave out of wave of the seaAnd who shall reckon what lives may liveIn the life that we bade to be?
Words in this poem
- waning n.
- The act or process of waning, or decreasing.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- bade
- A form of the pat tense of Bid.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
It came with the threat of a waning moon is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #1568; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: W. E. Henley, It came with the threat of a waning moon, in Poems (1898), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1568, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/henley-poems/it-came-with-the-threat-of-a-waning-moon.html, id L12440.
Form and metre
It came with the threat of a waning moon is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 74%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 38% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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-B-B moon · tideA · less · diedA · passed · freeB · dark · beB
- 2 -A-A-B-B moon · tideA · death · wideA · land · seaB · live · beB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| IT came with the threat of a waning moon | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And the wail of an ebbing tide, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| But many a woman has lived for less, | 9 | ·/·/˘···· |
| And many a man has died; | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| For life upon life took hold and passed, | 9 | ········· |
| Strong in a fate set free, | 6 | ······ |
| Out of the deep into the dark | 8 | ········ |
| On for the years to be. | 6 | ······ |
| Between the gloom of a waning moon | 9 | ······/˘· |
| And the song of an ebbing tide, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Chance upon chance of love and death | 8 | ········ |
| Took wing for the world so wide. | 7 | ······· |
| O, leaf out of leaf is the way of the land, | 11 | ··········· |
| Wave out of wave of the sea | 7 | ······· |
| And who shall reckon what lives may live | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| In the life that we bade to be? | 8 | ········ |
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.