Serenade
Stars of the summer night!Far in yon azure deeps,Hide, hide your golden light!She sleeps!My lady sleeps!Sleeps!
Moon of the summer night!Far down yon western steeps,Sink, sink in silver light!She sleeps!My lady sleeps!Sleeps!
Wind of the summer night!Where yonder woodbine creeps,Fold, fold thy pinions light!She sleeps!My lady sleeps!Sleeps!
Dreams of the summer night!Tell her, her lover keepsWatch! while in slumbers lightShe sleepsMy lady sleepsSleeps!
Words in this poem
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Serenade 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, Serenade, in The Complete Poetical Works (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/serenade.html, id L18611.
Form and metre
Serenade is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABBB, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 4.2 syllables. 17% 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 A-ABBB nightA · deeps · lightA · sleepsB · sleepsB · sleepsB
- 2 A-ABBB nightA · steeps · lightA · sleepsB · sleepsB · sleepsB
- 3 ABABBB nightA · creepsB · lightA · sleepsB · sleepsB · sleepsB
- 4 ABABBB nightA · keepsB · lightA · sleepsB · sleepsB · sleepsB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Stars of the summer night! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Far in yon azure deeps, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Hide, hide your golden light! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| She sleeps! | 2 | ·· |
| My lady sleeps! | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Sleeps! | 1 | · |
| Moon of the summer night! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Far down yon western steeps, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Sink, sink in silver light! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| She sleeps! | 2 | ·· |
| My lady sleeps! | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Sleeps! | 1 | · |
| Wind of the summer night! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Where yonder woodbine creeps, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Fold, fold thy pinions light! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| She sleeps! | 2 | ·· |
| My lady sleeps! | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Sleeps! | 1 | · |
| Dreams of the summer night! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Tell her, her lover keeps | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Watch! while in slumbers light | 6 | ···/˘· |
| She sleeps | 2 | ·· |
| My lady sleeps | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Sleeps! | 1 | · |
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.