The Glory of the Day Was in Her Face
The glory of the day was in her face,The beauty of the night was in her eyes.And over all her loveliness, the graceOf Morning blushing in the early skies.
And in her voice, the calling of the dove;Like music of a sweet, melodious part.And in her smile, the breaking light of love;And all the gentle virtues in her heart.
And now the glorious day, the beauteous night,The birds that signal to their mates at dawn,To my dull ears, to my tear-blinded sightAre one with all the dead, since she is gone.
Words in this poem
- loveliness n.
- The state or quality of being lovely. [From Lovely.]
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
- beauteous a.
- Full of beauty; beautiful; very handsome. [Mostly poetic] -- Beau"te*ous*ly, adv. --
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Glory of the Day Was in Her Face 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, The Glory of the Day Was in Her Face, in Fifty Years and Other Poems (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17884, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/johnson-fifty-years/the-glory-of-the-day-was-in-her-face.html, id L08299.
Form and metre
The Glory of the Day Was in Her Face is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 17% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 ABAB faceA · eyesB · graceA · skiesB
- 2 ABAB doveA · partB · loveA · heartB
- 3 ABAB nightA · dawnB · sightA · goneB
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The glory of the day was in her face, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| The beauty of the night was in her eyes. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And over all her loveliness, the grace | 9 | ····/˘˘·· |
| Of Morning blushing in the early skies. | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| And in her voice, the calling of the dove; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Like music of a sweet, melodious part. | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| And in her smile, the breaking light of love; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And all the gentle virtues in her heart. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| And now the glorious day, the beauteous night, | 11 | ···/˘··/˘˘· |
| The birds that signal to their mates at dawn, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| To my dull ears, to my tear-blinded sight | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Are one with all the dead, since she is gone. | 10 | ·········· |
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.