Midsummer midnight skies
MIDSUMMER midnight skies,Midsummer midnight influences and airs,The shining, sensitive silver of the seaTouched with the strange-hued blazonings of dawn;And all so solemnly still I seem to hearThe breathing of Life and Death,The secular Accomplices,Renewing the visible miracle of the world.
The wistful starsShine like good memories. The young morning windBlows full of unforgotten hoursAs over a region of roses. Life and DeathSound on—sound on . . . And the night magical,Troubled yet comforting, thrillsAs if the Enchanted Castle at the heartOf the wood’s dark wondermentSwung wide his valves, and filled the dim sea-banksWith exquisite visitants:Words fiery-hearted yet, dreams and desiresWith living looks intolerable, regretsWhose voice comes as the voice of an only childHeard from the grave: shapes of a Might-Have-Been—Beautiful, miserable, distraught—The Law no man may baffle denied and slew.
The spell-bound ships stand as at gazeTo let the marvel by. The grey road glooms . . .Glimmers . . . goes out . . . and there, O, there where it fades,What grace, what glamour, what wild will,Transfigure the shadows? Whose,Heart of my heart, Soul of my soul, but yours?
Ghosts—ghosts—the sapphirine airTeems with them even to the gleaming endsOf the wild day-spring! Ghosts,Everywhere—everywhere—till I and youAt last—dear love, at last!—Are in the dreaming, even as Life and Death,Twin-ministers of the unoriginal Will.
Words in this poem
- midsummer n.
- The middle of summer. Shak. Midsummer daisy (Bot.), the oxeye daisy. [AS. midsumor.]
- wistful a.
- Longing; wishful; desirous. [For wishful; perhaps influenced by wistly, which is probably corrupted from OE. wisly certainly (from Icel. viss certain, akin to E. wit). See Wish.]
- enchanted a.
- Under the power of enchantment; possessed or exercised by enchanters; as, an enchanted castle.
- wonderment n.
- Surprise; astonishment; a wonderful appearance; a wonder.
- distraught p. p.
- Torn asunder; separated. [OE. distract, distrauht. See Distract, a.]
- baffle v. i.
- To cause to undergo a disgraceful punishment, as a recreant knight. [Cf. Lowland Scotch bauchle to treat contemptuously, bauch tasteless, abashed, jaded, Icel. bagr uneasy, poor, or bagr, n., struggle, bægja to push, treat harshl]
- glamour n.
- A charm affecting the eye, making objects appear different from what they really are. [Scot. glamour, glamer; cf. Icel. glámeggdr one who is troubled with the glaucoma; or Icel. glam-s weakness of sight, glamour; glamr name of the moon, also of a ]
- transfigure v. t.
- To change the outward form or appearance of; to metamorphose; to transform. [F. transfigurer, L. transfigurare, transfiguratum; trans across, over + figurare to form, shape. See Figure, v. t.]
- sapphirine n.
- Resembling sapphire; made of sapphire; having the color, or any quality of sapphire.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Midsummer midnight skies 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, Midsummer midnight skies, in Poems (1898), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1568, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/henley-poems/midsummer-midnight-skies.html, id L12446.
Form and metre
Midsummer midnight skies is 37 lines in 4 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 74%). 86% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.9 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 46% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter, other poems in blank verse.
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| MIDSUMMER midnight skies, | 6 | //˘/·· |
| Midsummer midnight influences and airs, | 10 | //˘/·/·˘·· |
| The shining, sensitive silver of the sea | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Touched with the strange-hued blazonings of dawn; | 10 | ·········· |
| And all so solemnly still I seem to hear | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The breathing of Life and Death, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| The secular Accomplices, | 8 | ·/˘˘˘/˘˘ |
| Renewing the visible miracle of the world. | 11 | ˘/˘·/˘/˘··· |
| The wistful stars | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Shine like good memories. The young morning wind | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Blows full of unforgotten hours | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| As over a region of roses. Life and Death | 11 | ···/˘·/˘··· |
| Sound on—sound on . . . And the night magical, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Troubled yet comforting, thrills | 8 | /˘˘·/˘˘· |
| As if the Enchanted Castle at the heart | 11 | ···˘/˘/˘··· |
| Of the wood’s dark wonderment | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| Swung wide his valves, and filled the dim sea-banks | 10 | ·········· |
| With exquisite visitants: | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| Words fiery-hearted yet, dreams and desires | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| With living looks intolerable, regrets | 9 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘/ |
| Whose voice comes as the voice of an only child | 11 | ········/˘· |
| Heard from the grave: shapes of a Might-Have-Been— | 10 | ·········· |
| Beautiful, miserable, distraught— | 8 | /˘/˘˘˘˘/ |
| The Law no man may baffle denied and slew. | 11 | ·····/˘˘/·· |
| The spell-bound ships stand as at gaze | 8 | ········ |
| To let the marvel by. The grey road glooms . . . | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Glimmers . . . goes out . . . and there, O, there where it fades, | 11 | /˘········· |
| What grace, what glamour, what wild will, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Transfigure the shadows? Whose, | 7 | ˘/˘·/·· |
| Heart of my heart, Soul of my soul, but yours? | 10 | ·········· |
| Ghosts—ghosts—the sapphirine air | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| Teems with them even to the gleaming ends | 9 | ···/··/˘· |
| Of the wild day-spring! Ghosts, | 6 | ······ |
| Everywhere—everywhere—till I and you | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| At last—dear love, at last!— | 6 | ······ |
| Are in the dreaming, even as Life and Death, | 10 | ···/˘/···· |
| Twin-ministers of the unoriginal Will. | 11 | ·/˘········ |
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.