Daybreak
A wind came up out of the sea,And said, "O mists, make room for me."
It hailed the ships, and cried, "Sail on,Ye mariners, the night is gone."
And hurried landward far away,Crying, "Awake! it is the day."
It said unto the forest, "Shout!Hang all your leafy banners out!"
It touched the wood-bird's folded wing,And said, "O bird, awake and sing."
And o'er the farms, "O chanticleer,Your clarion blow; the day is near."
It whispered to the fields of corn,"Bow down, and hail the coming morn."
It shouted through the belfry-tower,"Awake, O bell! proclaim the hour."
It crossed the churchyard with a sigh,And said, "Not yet! in quiet lie."
Words in this poem
- landward adv.
- Toward the land.
- chanticleer n.
- A cock, so called from the clearness or loundness of his voice in crowing. [F. Chanteclair, name of the cock in the Roman du Renart (Reynard the Fox); chanter to chant + clair clear. See Chant, and Clear.]
- clarion n.
- A kind of trumpet, whose note is clear and shrill. [OE. clarioun, OF. clarion, F. clairon, LL. clario, claro; so called from its clear tone, fr. L. clarus clear. See Clear.]
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- belfry n.
- A movable tower erected by besiegers for purposes of attack and defense. [OE. berfray movable tower used in sieges, OF. berfreit, berfroit, F. beffroi, fr. MHG. bervrit, bercvrit, G. bergfriede, fr. MHG. bergen to protect (G. bergen t]
- churchyard n.
- The ground adjoining a church, in which the dead are buried; a cemetery.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Daybreak is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Project Gutenberg ebook #1365; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Daybreak, in The Complete Poetical Works (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/daybreak.html, id L17633.
Form and metre
Daybreak is 18 lines in 9 stanzas of 2 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 85% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.4 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 AA seaA · meA
- 2 AA onA · goneA
- 3 AA awayA · dayA
- 4 AA shoutA · outA
- 5 AA wingA · singA
- 6 AA chanticleerA · nearA
- 7 AA cornA · mornA
- 8 AA towerA · hourA
- 9 AA sighA · lieA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A wind came up out of the sea, | 8 | ········ |
| And said, "O mists, make room for me." | 8 | ········ |
| It hailed the ships, and cried, "Sail on, | 9 | ··˘······ |
| Ye mariners, the night is gone." | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| And hurried landward far away, | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Crying, "Awake! it is the day." | 8 | /˘˘/···· |
| It said unto the forest, "Shout! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Hang all your leafy banners out!" | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| It touched the wood-bird's folded wing, | 9 | ··˘···/˘· |
| And said, "O bird, awake and sing." | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| And o'er the farms, "O chanticleer, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Your clarion blow; the day is near." | 9 | ·/˘˘····· |
| It whispered to the fields of corn, | 9 | ·/˘˘····· |
| "Bow down, and hail the coming morn." | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| It shouted through the belfry-tower, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| "Awake, O bell! proclaim the hour." | 9 | ˘/··˘/·/˘ |
| It crossed the churchyard with a sigh, | 9 | ··˘·/···· |
| And said, "Not yet! in quiet lie." | 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.