Wraith
“Thin Rain, whom are you haunting,That you haunt my door?”--Surely it is not I she’s wanting;Someone living here before--“Nobody’s in the house but me:You may come in if you like and see.”
Thin as thread, with exquisite fingers,--Have you seen her, any of you?--Grey shawl, and leaning on the wind,And the garden showing through?
Glimmering eyes,--and silent, mostly,Sort of a whisper, sort of a purr,Asking something, asking it over,If you get a sound from her.--
Ever see her, any of you?--Strangest thing I’ve ever known,--Every night since I moved in,And I came to be alone.
“Thin Rain, hush with your knocking!You may not come in!This is I that you hear rocking;Nobody’s with me, nor has been!”
Curious, how she tried the window,--Odd, the way she tries the door,--Wonder just what sort of peopleCould have had this house before....
Words in this poem
- purr v. i.
- To murmur as a cat. See Pur.
- curious a.
- Difficult to please or satisfy; solicitous to be correct; careful; scrupulous; nice; exact. [OF. curios, curius, F. curieux, L. curiosus careful, inquisitive, fr. cura care. See Cure.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Wraith is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #59167; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edna St. Vincent Millay, Wraith, in Poems (1923), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59167, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/millay-poems/wraith.html, id L24374.
Form and metre
Wraith is 26 lines in 6 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%).
See other poems in trochaic tetrameter.
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-ABB haunting · doorA · wanting · beforeA · meB · seeB
- 2 -A-A fingers · youA · wind · throughA
- 3 -A-A mostly · purrA · over · herA
- 4 -AAA you · knownA · inA · aloneA
- 5 ABAB knockingA · inB · rockingA · beenB
- 6 -A-A window · doorA · people · beforeA
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| “Thin Rain, whom are you haunting, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| That you haunt my door?” | 5 | ····· |
| --Surely it is not I she’s wanting; | 9 | /˘·····/˘ |
| Someone living here before-- | 7 | /·/˘··· |
| “Nobody’s in the house but me: | 8 | /······· |
| You may come in if you like and see.” | 9 | ········· |
| Thin as thread, with exquisite fingers,-- | 9 | ····/˘˘/˘ |
| Have you seen her, any of you?-- | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| Grey shawl, and leaning on the wind, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And the garden showing through? | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Glimmering eyes,--and silent, mostly, | 9 | /˘˘··/˘/˘ |
| Sort of a whisper, sort of a purr, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Asking something, asking it over, | 8 | /˘/˘/˘·· |
| If you get a sound from her.-- | 7 | ······· |
| Ever see her, any of you?-- | 8 | /˘··/˘·· |
| Strangest thing I’ve ever known,-- | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Every night since I moved in, | 8 | /˘˘····· |
| And I came to be alone. | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| “Thin Rain, hush with your knocking! | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| You may not come in! | 5 | ····· |
| This is I that you hear rocking; | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Nobody’s with me, nor has been!” | 8 | /······· |
| Curious, how she tried the window,-- | 9 | /˘˘····/˘ |
| Odd, the way she tries the door,-- | 7 | ······· |
| Wonder just what sort of people | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| Could have had this house before.... | 7 | ······· |
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.