Morning, Noon and Night
When morning shows her first faint flush,I think of the tender blushThat crept so gently to your cheekWhen first my love I dared to speak;How, in your glance, a dawning rayGave promise of love's perfect day.
When, in the ardent breath of noon,The roses with passion swoon;There steals upon me from the airThe scent that lurked within your hair;I touch your hand, I clasp your form--Again your lips are close and warm.
When comes the night with beauteous skies,I think of your tear-dimmed eyes,Their mute entreaty that I stay,Although your lips sent me away;And then falls memory's bitter blight,And dark--so dark becomes the night.
Words in this poem
- beauteous a.
- Full of beauty; beautiful; very handsome. [Mostly poetic] -- Beau"te*ous*ly, adv. --
- entreaty n.
- Treatment; reception; entertainment. B. Jonson.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Morning, Noon and Night is in the public domain. This text is taken from Fifty Years, & Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #17884; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: James Weldon Johnson, Morning, Noon and Night, in Fifty Years and Other Poems (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17884, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/johnson-fifty-years/morning-noon-and-night.html, id L08327.
Form and metre
Morning, Noon and Night is 18 lines in 3 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABBCC. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.9 syllables. 22% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 AABBCC flushA · blushA · cheekB · speakB · rayC · dayC
- 2 AABBCC noonA · swoonA · airB · hairB · formC · warmC
- 3 AABBCC skiesA · eyesA · stayB · awayB · blightC · nightC
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| When morning shows her first faint flush, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| I think of the tender blush | 7 | ····/˘· |
| That crept so gently to your cheek | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| When first my love I dared to speak; | 8 | ········ |
| How, in your glance, a dawning ray | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Gave promise of love's perfect day. | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| When, in the ardent breath of noon, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The roses with passion swoon; | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| There steals upon me from the air | 8 | ········ |
| The scent that lurked within your hair; | 8 | ········ |
| I touch your hand, I clasp your form-- | 8 | ········ |
| Again your lips are close and warm. | 8 | ˘/······ |
| When comes the night with beauteous skies, | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| I think of your tear-dimmed eyes, | 8 | ······˘· |
| Their mute entreaty that I stay, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Although your lips sent me away; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And then falls memory's bitter blight, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And dark--so dark becomes the night. | 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.