A Day Off
Let us put awhile awayAll the cares of work-a-day,For a golden time forget,Task and worry, toil and fret,Let us take a day to dreamIn the meadow by the stream.
We may lie in grasses coolFringing a pellucid pool,We may learn the gay brook-runesSung on amber afternoons,And the keen wind-rhyme that fillsMossy hollows of the hills.
Where the wild-wood whisper stirsWe may talk with lisping firs,We may gather honeyed bloomsIn the dappled forest glooms,We may eat of berries redO'er the emerald upland spread.
We may linger as we willIn the sunset valleys still,Till the gypsy shadows creepFrom the starlit land of sleep,And the mist of evening grayGirdles round our pilgrim way.
We may bring to work againCourage from the tasselled glen,Bring a strength unfailing wonFrom the paths of cloud and sun,And the wholesome zest that springsFrom all happy, growing things.
Words in this poem
- awhile adv.
- For a while; for some time; for a short time. [Adj. a + while time, interval.]
- honeyed a.
- Covered with honey.
- dappled a.
- Marked with spots of different shades of color; spotted; variegated; as, a dapple horse.
- starlit a.
- Lighted by the stars; starlight.
- zest n.
- A piece of orange or lemon peel, or the aromatic oil which may be squeezed from such peel, used to give flavor to liquor, etc. [F. zeste, probably fr. L. schistos split, cleft, divided, Gr. Schism.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Day Off is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Watchman and Other Poems (New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1917; Toronto: McClelland, Goodchild and Stewart, 1916), Internet Archive; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: L. M. Montgomery, A Day Off, in The Watchman and Other Poems (1916), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/montgomery-watchman/a-day-off.html, id L29385.
Form and metre
A Day Off is 30 lines in 5 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABBCC. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
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 AABBCC awayA · dayA · forgetB · fretB · dreamC · streamC
- 2 AABBCC coolA · poolA · runesB · afternoonsB · fillsC · hillsC
- 3 AABBCC stirsA · firsA · bloomsB · gloomsB · redC · spreadC
- 4 AABBCC willA · stillA · creepB · sleepB · grayC · wayC
- 5 AABBCC againA · glenA · wonB · sunB · springsC · thingsC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Let us put awhile away | 7 | ···˘/˘/ |
| All the cares of work-a-day, | 7 | ······· |
| For a golden time forget, | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Task and worry, toil and fret, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Let us take a day to dream | 7 | ······· |
| In the meadow by the stream. | 7 | ··/···· |
| We may lie in grasses cool | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Fringing a pellucid pool, | 7 | /˘·˘/˘· |
| We may learn the gay brook-runes | 7 | ······· |
| Sung on amber afternoons, | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| And the keen wind-rhyme that fills | 7 | ······· |
| Mossy hollows of the hills. | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Where the wild-wood whisper stirs | 7 | ····/˘· |
| We may talk with lisping firs, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| We may gather honeyed blooms | 8 | ··/˘/˘˘· |
| In the dappled forest glooms, | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| We may eat of berries red | 7 | ····/˘· |
| O'er the emerald upland spread. | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| We may linger as we will | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| In the sunset valleys still, | 7 | ··/·/˘· |
| Till the gypsy shadows creep | 7 | ··/˘/·· |
| From the starlit land of sleep, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And the mist of evening gray | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Girdles round our pilgrim way. | 8 | /˘·/˘/˘· |
| We may bring to work again | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Courage from the tasselled glen, | 8 | /˘··/˘˘· |
| Bring a strength unfailing won | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| From the paths of cloud and sun, | 7 | ······· |
| And the wholesome zest that springs | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| From all happy, growing things. | 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.