Vigil
LIVED on one’s back,In the long hours of repose,Life is a practical nightmare—Hideous asleep or awake.
Shoulders and loinsAche - - - !Ache, and the mattress,Run into boulders and hummocks,Glows like a kiln, while the bedclothes—Tumbling, importunate, daft—Ramble and roll, and the gas,Screwed to its lowermost,An inevitable atom of light,Haunts, and a stertorous sleeperSnores me to hate and despair.
All the old timeSurges malignant before me;Old voices, old kisses, old songsBlossom derisive about me;While the new daysPass me in endless procession:A pageant of shadowsSilently, leeringly wendingOn . . . and still on . . . still on!
Far in the stillness a catLanguishes loudly. A cinderFalls, and the shadowsLurch to the leap of the flame. The next man to meTurns with a moan; and the snorer,The drug like a rope at his throat,Gasps, gurgles, snorts himself free, as the night-nurse,Noiseless and strange,Her bull’s eye half-lanterned in apron,(Whispering me, ‘Are ye no sleepin’ yet?’),Passes, list-slippered and peering,Round . . . and is gone.
Sleep comes at last—Sleep full of dreams and misgivings—Broken with brutal and sordidVoices and sounds that impose on me,Ere I can wake to it,The unnatural, intolerable day.
Words in this poem
- ache n.
- A name given to several species of plants; as, smallage, wild celery, parsley. Holland. [F. ache, L. apium parsley.]
- mattress n.
- A quilted bed; a bed stuffed with hair, moss, or other suitable material, and quilted or otherwise fastened. [OF. materas, F. matelas, LL. matratium; cf. Sp. & Pg. almadraque, Pr. almatrac; all from Ar. matsrah a place where anything is thrown, what is thrown under some]
- bedclothes n.
- Blankets, sheets, coverlets, etc., for a bed.
- daft a.
- Stupid; folish; idiotic; also, delirious; insance; as, he has gone daft. [OE. daft, deft, deft, stupid; prob. the same word as E. deft. See Deft.]
- stertorous a.
- Characterized by a deep snoring, which accompaines inspiration in some diseases, especially apoplexy; hence, hoarsely breathing; snoring. [L. stertere to snore: cf. F. stertoreux.]
- sleeper n.
- One who sleeps; a slumberer; hence, a drone, or lazy person.
- pageant n.
- A theatrical exhibition; a spectacle. [OE. pagent, pagen, originally, a movable scaffold or stage, hence, what was exhibited on it, fr. LL. pagina, akin to pangere to fasten; cf. L. pagina page, leaf]
- leeringly adv.
- In a leering manner.
- stillness n.
- The quality or state of being still; quietness; silence; calmness; inactivity.
- cinder n.
- Partly burned or vitrified coal, or other combustible, in which fire is extinct. [AS. sinder slag, dross; akin to Icel. sindr dross, Sw. sinder, G. sinter, D. sintel; perh. influenced by F. cendre ashes, fr. L. cinis. Cf. Sinter.]
- lurch v. t.
- To leave in the lurch; to cheat.
- snorer n.
- One who snores.
- sordid a.
- Filthy; foul; dirty. [L. sordidus, fr. sordere to be filthy or dirty; probably akin to E. swart: cf. F. sordide. See Swart, a.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Vigil 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, Vigil, in Poems (1898), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1568, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/henley-poems/vigil.html, id L12328.
Form and metre
Vigil is 42 lines in 5 stanzas. The metre is dactylic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 85% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.0 syllables. 12 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 29% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in dactylic 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.
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.
- 2 --A---A---- loins · ache · mattressA · hummocks · bedclothes · daft · gasA · lowermost · light · sleeper · despair
- 3 -A-A-B--B time · meA · songs · meA · days · processionB · shadows · wending · onB
- 4 --------A--A cat · cinder · shadows · me · snorer · throat · nurse · strange · apronA · yet · peering · goneA
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 dactylic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| LIVED on one’s back, | 4 | ···· |
| In the long hours of repose, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Life is a practical nightmare— | 8 | ···/˘˘/· |
| Hideous asleep or awake. | 8 | /˘˘˘/·˘/ |
| Shoulders and loins | 4 | /˘·· |
| Ache - - - ! | 1 | · |
| Ache, and the mattress, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Run into boulders and hummocks, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Glows like a kiln, while the bedclothes— | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Tumbling, importunate, daft— | 8 | /˘˘˘/˘˘· |
| Ramble and roll, and the gas, | 7 | /˘····· |
| Screwed to its lowermost, | 7 | ·˘··/˘˘ |
| An inevitable atom of light, | 8 | ·˘/˘/˘·· |
| Haunts, and a stertorous sleeper | 8 | ···/˘˘/˘ |
| Snores me to hate and despair. | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| All the old time | 4 | ···· |
| Surges malignant before me; | 8 | /˘˘/˘··· |
| Old voices, old kisses, old songs | 8 | ·/˘·/˘·· |
| Blossom derisive about me; | 8 | /˘˘/˘··· |
| While the new days | 4 | ···· |
| Pass me in endless procession: | 8 | ···/˘˘/˘ |
| A pageant of shadows | 6 | ·/˘·/· |
| Silently, leeringly wending | 8 | /˘˘/˘˘/˘ |
| On . . . and still on . . . still on! | 6 | ······ |
| Far in the stillness a cat | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Languishes loudly. A cinder | 8 | /˘˘/˘·/˘ |
| Falls, and the shadows | 5 | ···/· |
| Lurch to the leap of the flame. The next man to me | 12 | ············ |
| Turns with a moan; and the snorer, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| The drug like a rope at his throat, | 8 | ········ |
| Gasps, gurgles, snorts himself free, as the night-nurse, | 11 | ·/˘·˘/····· |
| Noiseless and strange, | 4 | /˘·· |
| Her bull’s eye half-lanterned in apron, | 9 | ····/˘·/˘ |
| (Whispering me, ‘Are ye no sleepin’ yet?’), | 9 | /˘······· |
| Passes, list-slippered and peering, | 8 | /˘·/˘·/˘ |
| Round . . . and is gone. | 4 | ···· |
| Sleep comes at last— | 4 | ···· |
| Sleep full of dreams and misgivings— | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Broken with brutal and sordid | 8 | /˘·/˘·/˘ |
| Voices and sounds that impose on me, | 9 | /˘···˘/·· |
| Ere I can wake to it, | 6 | ······ |
| The unnatural, intolerable day. | 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.