We’LL go no more a-roving by the light of the moon
WE’LL go no more a-roving by the light of the moon.November glooms are barren beside the dusk of June.The summer flowers are faded, the summer thoughts are sere.We’ll go no more a-roving, lest worse befall, my dear.
We’ll go no more a-roving by the light of the moon.The song we sang rings hollow, and heavy runs the tune.Glad ways and words remembered would shame the wretched year.We’ll go no more a-roving, nor dream we did, my dear.
We’ll go no more a-roving by the light of the moon.If yet we walk together, we need not shun the noon.No sweet thing left to savour, no sad thing left to fear,We’ll go no more a-roving, but weep at home, my dear.
Words in this poem
- sere n.
- Claw; talon. Chapman. [F. serre.]
- savour v. t.
- To perceive by the smell or the taste; hence, to perceive; to note. B. Jonson.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
We’LL go no more a-roving by the light of the 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, We’LL go no more a-roving by the light of the moon, in Poems (1898), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1568, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/henley-poems/we-ll-go-no-more-a-roving-by-the-light-of-the-moon.html, id L12391.
Form and metre
We’LL go no more a-roving by the light of the moon is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABB. The metre is alexandrines, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 78%). 84% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 13.0 syllables.
See other poems in alexandrines.
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 AABB moonA · juneA · sereB · dearB
- 2 AABB moonA · tuneA · yearB · dearB
- 3 AABB moonA · noonA · fearB · dearB
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 alexandrines. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| WE’LL go no more a-roving by the light of the moon. | 13 | ·····/˘······ |
| November glooms are barren beside the dusk of June. | 13 | ˘/˘··/˘·/···· |
| The summer flowers are faded, the summer thoughts are sere. | 13 | ·/˘/·/˘·/˘··· |
| We’ll go no more a-roving, lest worse befall, my dear. | 13 | ·····/˘··˘/·· |
| We’ll go no more a-roving by the light of the moon. | 13 | ·····/˘······ |
| The song we sang rings hollow, and heavy runs the tune. | 13 | ·····/˘·/˘··· |
| Glad ways and words remembered would shame the wretched year. | 13 | ····˘/˘···/˘· |
| We’ll go no more a-roving, nor dream we did, my dear. | 13 | ·····/˘······ |
| We’ll go no more a-roving by the light of the moon. | 13 | ·····/˘······ |
| If yet we walk together, we need not shun the noon. | 13 | ····˘/˘······ |
| No sweet thing left to savour, no sad thing left to fear, | 13 | ·····/˘······ |
| We’ll go no more a-roving, but weep at home, my dear. | 13 | ·····/˘······ |
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.