June Twilight
The twilight comes; the sunDips down and sets,The boys have donePlay at the nets.
In a warm golden glowThe woods are steeped.The shadows grow;The bat has cheeped.
Sweet smells the new-mown hay;The mowers passHome, each his way,Through the grass.
The night-wind stirs the fern,A night-jar spins;The windows burnIn the inns.
Dusky it grows. The moon!The dews descend.Love, can this beauty in our heartsEnd?
About this text
June Twilight is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Story of a Round-House, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #40717; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Masefield, June Twilight, in The Story of a Round-House, and Other Poems (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #40717, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/masefield-round-house/june-twilight.html, id L25003.
Form and metre
June Twilight is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 4 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
See other poems in iambic dimeter.
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 ABAB sunA · setsB · doneA · netsB
- 2 ABAB glowA · steepedB · growA · cheepedB
- 3 ABAB hayA · passB · wayA · grassB
- 4 ABAB fernA · spinsB · burnA · innsB
- 5 -A-A moon · descendA · hearts · endA
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 dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The twilight comes; the sun | 6 | ·/···· |
| Dips down and sets, | 4 | ···· |
| The boys have done | 4 | ···· |
| Play at the nets. | 4 | ···· |
| In a warm golden glow | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The woods are steeped. | 4 | ···· |
| The shadows grow; | 4 | ·/·· |
| The bat has cheeped. | 4 | ···· |
| Sweet smells the new-mown hay; | 6 | ······ |
| The mowers pass | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Home, each his way, | 4 | ···· |
| Through the grass. | 3 | ··· |
| The night-wind stirs the fern, | 6 | ······ |
| A night-jar spins; | 4 | ···· |
| The windows burn | 4 | ·/˘· |
| In the inns. | 3 | ··· |
| Dusky it grows. The moon! | 6 | /˘···· |
| The dews descend. | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Love, can this beauty in our hearts | 8 | ···/˘·/· |
| End? | 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.