Jacques Tahureau: Moonlight
THE high Midnight was garlanding her headWith many a shining star in shining skies,And, of her grace, a slumber on mine eyes,And, after sorrow, quietness was shed.Far in dim fields cicalas jargonédA thin shrill clamour of complaints and cries;And all the woods were pallid, in strange wise,With pallor of the sad moon overspread.
Then came my lady to that lonely place,And, from her palfrey stooping, did embraceAnd hang upon my neck, and kissed me over;Wherefore the day is far less dear than night,And sweeter is the shadow than the light,Since night has made me such a happy lover.
Words in this poem
- clamour n.
- A great outcry or vociferation; loud and continued shouting or exclamation. [OF. clamour, clamur, F. clameur, fr. L. clamor, fr. clamare to cry out. See Claim.]
- pallor n.
- Paleness; want of color; pallidity; as, pallor of the complexion. Jer. Taylor. [L., fr. pallere to be or look pale. See Pale, a.]
- palfrey n.
- A saddle horse for the road, or for state occasions, as distinguished from a war horse. [OE. palefrai, OF. palefrei, F. palefroi, LL. palafredus, parafredus, from L. paraveredus a horse for extraordinary occasions, an extra post horse; Gr. veredus a]
- wherefore adv.
- For which reason; so; -- used relatively. [Where + for.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Jacques Tahureau: Moonlight is in the public domain. This text is taken from Ballads and Lyrics of Old France, with Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #795, the Andrew Lang translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Various, Jacques Tahureau: Moonlight, in Ballads and Lyrics of Old France (1872), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #795, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lang-old-france/moonlight.html, id L26905.
Form and metre
Jacques Tahureau: Moonlight is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
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 ABBA-BBA headA · skiesB · eyesB · shedA · jargonéd · criesB · wiseB · overspreadA
- 2 AA-BB- placeA · embraceA · over · nightB · lightB · lover
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 high Midnight was garlanding her head | 10 | ··/··/˘˘·· |
| With many a shining star in shining skies, | 10 | ·/·/˘··/˘· |
| And, of her grace, a slumber on mine eyes, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And, after sorrow, quietness was shed. | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘·· |
| Far in dim fields cicalas jargonéd | 9 | ····˘/˘·· |
| A thin shrill clamour of complaints and cries; | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| And all the woods were pallid, in strange wise, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| With pallor of the sad moon overspread. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Then came my lady to that lonely place, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And, from her palfrey stooping, did embrace | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| And hang upon my neck, and kissed me over; | 10 | ·········· |
| Wherefore the day is far less dear than night, | 10 | /˘········ |
| And sweeter is the shadow than the light, | 10 | ·/˘··/···· |
| Since night has made me such a happy lover. | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
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.