To-Morrow
'T is late at night, and in the realm of sleepMy little lambs are folded like the flocks;From room to room I hear the wakeful clocksChallenge the passing hour, like guards that keepTheir solitary watch on tower and steep;Far off I hear the crowing of the cocks,And through the opening door that time unlocksFeel the fresh breathing of To-morrow creep.To-morrow! the mysterious, unknown guest,Who cries to me: "Remember Barmecide,And tremble to be happy with the rest."And I make answer: "I am satisfied;I dare not ask; I know not what is best;God hath already said what shall betide."
Words in this poem
- wakeful a.
- Not sleeping; indisposed to sleep; watchful; vigilant.
- barmecide n.
- One who proffers some illusory advantage or benefit. Also used as an adj.: Barmecidal. [A prince of the Barmecide family, who, as related in the "Arabian Nights' Tales", pretended to set before the hungry Shacabac food, on which the latter pretende]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- betide v. t.
- To happen to; to befall; to come to ; as, woe betide the wanderer. [OE. bitiden; pref. bi-, be- + tiden, fr. AS. tidan, to happen, fr. tid time. See Tide.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To-Morrow 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, To-Morrow, in The Complete Poetical Works (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/to-morrow.html, id L17715.
Form and metre
To-Morrow is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 29% 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 ABBAAB-ACDCDCD sleepA · flocksB · clocksB · keepA · steepA · cocksB · unlocks · creepA · guestC · barmecideD · restC · satisfiedD · bestC · betideD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 'T is late at night, and in the realm of sleep | 11 | ··········· |
| My little lambs are folded like the flocks; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| From room to room I hear the wakeful clocks | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Challenge the passing hour, like guards that keep | 10 | /˘·/˘/···· |
| Their solitary watch on tower and steep; | 10 | ·/˘·˘··/·· |
| Far off I hear the crowing of the cocks, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And through the opening door that time unlocks | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Feel the fresh breathing of To-morrow creep. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| To-morrow! the mysterious, unknown guest, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘/· |
| Who cries to me: "Remember Barmecide, | 10 | ····˘/˘/˘˘ |
| And tremble to be happy with the rest." | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| And I make answer: "I am satisfied; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| I dare not ask; I know not what is best; | 10 | ·········· |
| God hath already said what shall betide." | 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.