Space and dread and the dark—
SPACE and dread and the dark—Over a livid stretch of skyCloud-monsters crawling, like a funeral trainOf huge, primeval presencesStooping beneath the weightOf some enormous, rudimentary grief;While in the haunting lonelinessThe far sea waits and wanders with a soundAs of the trailing skirts of Destiny,Passing unseenTo some immitigable endWith her grey henchman, Death.
What larve, what spectre is thisThrilling the wilderness to lifeAs with the bodily shape of Fear?What but a desperate sense,A strong foreboding of those dimInterminable continents, forlornAnd many-silenced, in a duskInviolable utterly, and deadAs the poor dead it huddles and swarms and styesIn hugger-mugger through eternity?
Life—life—let there be life!Better a thousand times the roaring hoursWhen wave and wind,Like the Arch-Murderer in flightFrom the Avenger at his heel,Storm through the desolate fastnessesAnd wild waste places of the world!
Life—give me life until the end,That at the very top of being,The battle-spirit shouting in my blood,Out of the reddest hell of the fightI may be snatched and flungInto the everlasting lull,The immortal, incommunicable dream.
Words in this poem
- loneliness n.
- The condition of being lonely; solitude; seclusion.
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
- immitigable a.
- Not capable of being mitigated, softened, or appeased. [L. immitigabilis; fr. pref. im- not + mitigare to mitigate.]
- henchman n.
- An attendant; a servant; a follower. Now chiefly used as a political cant term. [OE. hencheman, henxman; prob. fr. OE. & AS. hengest horse + E. man, and meaning, a groom. AS. hengest is akin to D. & G. hengst stallion, OHG. hengist horse, ge]
- spectre n.
- Something preternaturally visible; an apparition; a ghost; a phantom. [F. spectre, fr. L. spectrum an appearance, image, specter, fr. specere to look. See Spy, and cf. Spectrum.]
- thrilling a.
- Causing a thrill; causing tremulous excitement; deeply moving; as, a thrilling romance.
- desperate a.
- Without hope; given to despair; hopeless. [L. desperatus, p. p. of desperare. See Despair, and cf. Desperado.]
- forlorn a.
- Deserted abandoned; lost. [OE., p.p. of forlesen to lose utterly, AS. forleósan (p.p. forloren); pref. for- + leósan (in comp.) to lose; cf. D. verliezen to lose, G. verlieren, Sw. förlor]
- lull v. t.
- To cause to rest by soothing influences; to compose; to calm; to soothe; to quiet. [Akin to OD. lullen to sing to sleep, G. lullen, Dan. lulle, Sw. lulla; all of imitative origin. Cf. Loll, Lollard.]
- incommunicable a.
- Not communicable; incapable of being communicated, shared, told, or imparted, to others. [L. incommunicabilis: cf. F. incommunicable. See In- not, and Communicable.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Space and dread and the dark— 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, Space and dread and the dark—, in Poems (1898), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1568, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/henley-poems/space-and-dread-and-the-dark.html, id L12452.
Form and metre
Space and dread and the dark— is 36 lines in 4 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 56% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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.
- 4 -A--A-- end · beingA · blood · fight · flungA · lull · dream
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| SPACE and dread and the dark— | 6 | ······ |
| Over a livid stretch of sky | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Cloud-monsters crawling, like a funeral train | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Of huge, primeval presences | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘˘ |
| Stooping beneath the weight | 6 | /˘···· |
| Of some enormous, rudimentary grief; | 10 | ··˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| While in the haunting loneliness | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| The far sea waits and wanders with a sound | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| As of the trailing skirts of Destiny, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Passing unseen | 4 | /˘˘/ |
| To some immitigable end | 8 | ··˘/˘˘˘· |
| With her grey henchman, Death. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| What larve, what spectre is this | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Thrilling the wilderness to life | 8 | /˘·/˘˘·· |
| As with the bodily shape of Fear? | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| What but a desperate sense, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| A strong foreboding of those dim | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Interminable continents, forlorn | 8 | ˘/˘/˘˘˘/ |
| And many-silenced, in a dusk | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Inviolable utterly, and dead | 8 | ˘/˘/˘˘·· |
| As the poor dead it huddles and swarms and styes | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| In hugger-mugger through eternity? | 9 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| Life—life—let there be life! | 6 | ······ |
| Better a thousand times the roaring hours | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘/ |
| When wave and wind, | 4 | ···· |
| Like the Arch-Murderer in flight | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| From the Avenger at his heel, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Storm through the desolate fastnesses | 9 | ···/˘·/˘˘ |
| And wild waste places of the world! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Life—give me life until the end, | 8 | ········ |
| That at the very top of being, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| The battle-spirit shouting in my blood, | 9 | ·/˘//˘··· |
| Out of the reddest hell of the fight | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| I may be snatched and flung | 7 | ····˘·· |
| Into the everlasting lull, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| The immortal, incommunicable dream. | 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.