Do You Remember That Night?
Do you remember that nightWhen you were at the window,With neither hat nor glovesNor coat to shelter you?I reached out my hand to you,And you ardently grasped it,I remained to converse with youUntil the lark began to sing.
Do you remember that nightThat you and I wereAt the foot of the rowan-tree,And the night drifting snow?Your head on my breast,And your pipe sweetly playing?Little thought I that nightThat our love ties would loosen!
Beloved of my inmost heart,Come some night, and soon,When my people are at rest,That we may talk together.My arms shall encircle youWhile I relate my sad tale,That your soft, pleasant converseHath deprived me of heaven.
The fire is unraked,The light unextinguished,The key under the door,Do you softly draw it.My mother is asleep,But I am wide awake;My fortune in my hand,I am ready to go with you.
Words in this poem
- inmost a.
- Deepest within; farthest from the surface or external part; innermost. [OE. innemest, AS. innemest, a double superlative form fr. inne within, fr. in in. The modern form is due to confusion with most. See In, and cf. Aftermost, Fore]
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Do You Remember That Night? is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poem-Book of the Gael Translations from Irish Gaelic Poetry into English Prose and Verse, Project Gutenberg ebook #46917; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Eleanor Hull, Do You Remember That Night?, in The Poem-Book of the Gael (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #46917, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hull-gael/do-you-remember-that-night.html, id L11728.
Form and metre
Do You Remember That Night? is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.8 syllables. 8 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic 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.
- 1 ---AA-A- night · window · gloves · youA · youA · it · youA · sing
- 2 A-----A- nightA · were · tree · snow · breast · playing · nightA · loosen
- 4 AA------ unrakedA · unextinguishedA · door · it · asleep · awake · hand · you
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Do you remember that night | 7 | ··˘/˘·· |
| When you were at the window, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| With neither hat nor gloves | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Nor coat to shelter you? | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I reached out my hand to you, | 8 | ··˘····· |
| And you ardently grasped it, | 8 | ··/˘˘·˘· |
| I remained to converse with you | 8 | ·˘/·/˘·· |
| Until the lark began to sing. | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Do you remember that night | 7 | ··˘/˘·· |
| That you and I were | 5 | ····· |
| At the foot of the rowan-tree, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And the night drifting snow? | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Your head on my breast, | 5 | ····· |
| And your pipe sweetly playing? | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Little thought I that night | 6 | /˘···· |
| That our love ties would loosen! | 8 | ·/˘···/˘ |
| Beloved of my inmost heart, | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| Come some night, and soon, | 5 | ····· |
| When my people are at rest, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| That we may talk together. | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| My arms shall encircle you | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| While I relate my sad tale, | 7 | ··˘/··· |
| That your soft, pleasant converse | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Hath deprived me of heaven. | 8 | ·˘/˘··/˘ |
| The fire is unraked, | 7 | ·/˘···˘ |
| The light unextinguished, | 7 | ······˘ |
| The key under the door, | 6 | ······ |
| Do you softly draw it. | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| My mother is asleep, | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| But I am wide awake; | 6 | ····˘/ |
| My fortune in my hand, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| I am ready to go with you. | 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.