The Snow Fairy I
Throughout the afternoon I watched them there,Snow-fairies falling, falling from the sky,Whirling fantastic in the misty air,Contending fierce for space supremacy.And they flew down a mightier force at night,As though in heaven there was revolt and riot,And they, frail things had taken panic flightDown to the calm earth seeking peace and quiet.I went to bed and rose at early dawnTo see them huddled together in a heap,Each merged into the other upon the lawn,Worn out by the sharp struggle, fast asleep.The sun shone brightly on them half the day,By night they stealthily had stol’n away.
Words in this poem
- afternoon n.
- The part of the day which follows noon, between noon and evening.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Snow Fairy I is in the public domain. This text is taken from Harlem shadows, Project Gutenberg ebook #64989; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Claude McKay, The Snow Fairy I, in Harlem Shadows (1922), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #64989, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mckay-harlem-shadows/the-snow-fairy-i.html, id L01395.
Form and metre
The Snow Fairy I is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.3 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 14% 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-BCBCDEDEFF thereA · sky · airA · supremacy · nightB · riotC · flightB · quietC · dawnD · heapE · lawnD · asleepE · dayF · awayF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Throughout the afternoon I watched them there, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Snow-fairies falling, falling from the sky, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Whirling fantastic in the misty air, | 10 | /˘˘/˘··/˘· |
| Contending fierce for space supremacy. | 10 | ˘/˘···˘/˘˘ |
| And they flew down a mightier force at night, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| As though in heaven there was revolt and riot, | 11 | ···/··˘/·/˘ |
| And they, frail things had taken panic flight | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Down to the calm earth seeking peace and quiet. | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| I went to bed and rose at early dawn | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| To see them huddled together in a heap, | 11 | ···/˘˘/˘··· |
| Each merged into the other upon the lawn, | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| Worn out by the sharp struggle, fast asleep. | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| The sun shone brightly on them half the day, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| By night they stealthily had stol’n away. | 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.