A Night on the Mountain
I sat upon the mountain-side and watchedA tiny barque that skimmed across the lake,Drifting, like human destiny uponA world of hidden peril; then she sailedFrom out my ken, and mingled with the blueOf skies unfathomed, while the great round sunWeakened towards the waves.The whole expanseSuddenly in the half-light of the duskGlimmered and waned. The last rays of the sunLit but the tops of trees and mountain-peaksWith tarnished glory; and the water's sheen,Once blue and bright, grew lustreless, and soonA welter of red clouds alone betrayedThe passing of the sun. The scattered islesUprose, black-looming o'er the tranquil deeps,Where the reflected heavens wanly showedA lingering gleam. Already wood and hillSank in obscurity. The river margeSeemed but a broken line to failing sight.
Night is at hand; the night winds fret afar,The North winds moan. The waterfowl are goneTo cover o'er the sand-dunes; dawn aloneShall call them from the sedges. Some bright star
Mirrors her charms upon the silver shoal;And I have ta'en the lute, my only friend:The vibrant chords beneath my fingers blend;They sob awhile, then as they slip control
Immortal memories awake, and the dead yearsThrough deathless voices answer to my strings,Till from the brink of Time's untarnished springsThe melting night recalls me with her tears.
Words in this poem
- barque n.
- Formerly, any small sailing vessel, as a pinnace, fishing smack, etc.; also, a rowing boat; a barge. Now applied poetically to a sailing vessel or boat of any kind. [F. barque, fr. Sp. or It. barca, fr. LL. barca for barica. See Barge.]
- sheen v. i.
- To shine; to glisten.
- lustreless a.
- Destitute of luster; dim; dull.
- welter v. i.
- To roll, as the body of an animal; to tumble about, especially in anything foul or defiling; to wallow. [Freq. of OE. walten to roll over, AS. wealtan; akin to LG. weltern, G. walzen to roll, to waltz, sich wälzen to welter, OHG. walzan to roll, Icel. velta, Dan. v]
- wanly adv.
- In a wan, or pale, manner.
- marge n.
- Border; margin; edge; verge. [F. marge. See Margin.]
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
- waterfowl n.
- Any bird that frequents the water, or lives about rivers, lakes, etc., or on or near the sea; an aquatic fowl; -- used also collectively.
- 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,]
- vibrant a.
- Vibrating; tremulous; resonant; as, vibrant drums. [L. vibrans, p. pr.: cf. F. vibrant. See Vibrate.]
- awhile adv.
- For a while; for some time; for a short time. [Adj. a + while time, interval.]
- deathless a.
- Not subject to death, destruction, or extinction; immortal; undying; imperishable; as, deathless beings; deathless fame.
- brink n.
- The edge, margin, or border of a steep place, as of a precipice; a bank or edge, as of a river or pit; a verge; a border; as, the brink of a chasm. Also Fig. [Dan. brink edge, verge; akin to Sw. brink declivity, hill, Icel. brekka; cf. LG. brink a grassy hill, W. bryn hill, bryncyn hillock.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Night on the Mountain is in the public domain. This text is taken from A Lute of Jade, Project Gutenberg ebook #390, the L. Cranmer-Byng 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, A Night on the Mountain, in A Lute of Jade (1909), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #390, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lute-of-jade/a-night-on-the-mountain.html, id L15570.
Form and metre
A Night on the Mountain is 32 lines in 4 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABBA, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.7 syllables. 66% 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 -----A---A---------- watched · lake · upon · sailed · blue · sunA · waves · expanse · dusk · sunA · peaks · sheen · soon · betrayed · isles · deeps · showed · hill · marge · sight
- 2 A--A afarA · gone · alone · starA
- 3 ABBA shoalA · friendB · blendB · controlA
- 4 ABBA yearsA · stringsB · springsB · tearsA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I sat upon the mountain-side and watched | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| A tiny barque that skimmed across the lake, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| Drifting, like human destiny upon | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘˘·· |
| A world of hidden peril; then she sailed | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| From out my ken, and mingled with the blue | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Of skies unfathomed, while the great round sun | 10 | ·········· |
| Weakened towards the waves. | 6 | /˘···· |
| The whole expanse | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Suddenly in the half-light of the dusk | 10 | /˘˘······· |
| Glimmered and waned. The last rays of the sun | 10 | /˘········ |
| Lit but the tops of trees and mountain-peaks | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| With tarnished glory; and the water's sheen, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Once blue and bright, grew lustreless, and soon | 10 | ·········· |
| A welter of red clouds alone betrayed | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘/ |
| The passing of the sun. The scattered isles | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Uprose, black-looming o'er the tranquil deeps, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Where the reflected heavens wanly showed | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| A lingering gleam. Already wood and hill | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| Sank in obscurity. The river marge | 10 | ··˘/˘˘·/˘· |
| Seemed but a broken line to failing sight. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Night is at hand; the night winds fret afar, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| The North winds moan. The waterfowl are gone | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| To cover o'er the sand-dunes; dawn alone | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Shall call them from the sedges. Some bright star | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Mirrors her charms upon the silver shoal; | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| And I have ta'en the lute, my only friend: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The vibrant chords beneath my fingers blend; | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| They sob awhile, then as they slip control | 10 | ··˘/····˘/ |
| Immortal memories awake, and the dead years | 11 | ˘/˘/˘˘/···· |
| Through deathless voices answer to my strings, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Till from the brink of Time's untarnished springs | 10 | ·········· |
| The melting night recalls me with her tears. | 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.