Before Storm
There's a grayness over the harbor like fear on the face of a woman,The sob of the waves has a sound akin to a woman's cry,And the deeps beyond the bar are moaning with evil presageOf a storm that will leap from its lair in that dour north-eastern sky.
Slowly the pale mists rise, like ghosts of the sea, in the offing,Creeping all wan and chilly by headland and sunken reef,And a wind is wailing and keening like a lost thing 'mid the islands,Boding of wreck and tempest, plaining of dolor and grief.
Swiftly the boats come homeward, over the grim bar crowding,Like birds that flee to their shelter in hurry and affright,Only the wild grey gulls that love the cloud and the clamorWill dare to tempt the ways of the ravining sea to-night.
But the ship that sailed at the dawning, manned by the lads who love us—God help and pity her when the storm is loosed on her track!O women, we pray to-night and keep a vigil of sorrowFor those we speed at the dawning and may never welcome back!
Words in this poem
- grayness n.
- The quality of being gray.
- lair n.
- A place in which to lie or rest; especially, the bed or couch of a wild beast. [OE. leir, AS. leger; akin to D. leger, G. lager couch, lair, OHG. laga, Goth. ligrs, and to E. lie. See Lie to be prostrate, and cf. Layer, Leaguer.]
- dour a.
- Hard; inflexible; obstinate; sour in aspect; hardy; bold. [Cf. F. dur, L. durus.]
- boding a.
- Foreshowing; presaging; ominous.
- plaining a.
- Complaining. Bryant.
- dolor n.
- Pain; grief; distress; anguish. [OE. dolor, dolur, dolour, F. douleur, L. dolor, fr. dolere. See 1st Dole.]
- homeward a.
- Being in the direction of home; as, the homeward way.
- vigil n.
- Abstinence from sleep, whether at a time when sleep is customary or not; the act of keeping awake, or the state of being awake, or the state of being awake; sleeplessness; wakefulness; watch. [OE. vigile, L. vigilia, from vigil awake, watchful, probably akin to E. wake: cf. F. vigile. See Wake, v. i., and cf. Reveille, Surveillance, Vedette, Vegetable]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Before Storm 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, Before Storm, in The Watchman and Other Poems (1916), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/montgomery-watchman/before-storm.html, id L29363.
Form and metre
Before Storm is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter.
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 woman · cryA · presage · skyA
- 2 -A-A offing · reefA · islands · griefA
- 3 -A-A crowding · affrightA · clamor · nightA
- 4 -A-A us · trackA · sorrow · backA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| There's a grayness over the harbor like fear on the face of a woman, | 17 | ··/˘··/˘·······/˘ |
| The sob of the waves has a sound akin to a woman's cry, | 15 | ········/˘··/˘· |
| And the deeps beyond the bar are moaning with evil presage | 15 | ········/˘·/˘/˘ |
| Of a storm that will leap from its lair in that dour north-eastern sky. | 16 | ···········/·/˘· |
| Slowly the pale mists rise, like ghosts of the sea, in the offing, | 15 | /˘···········/˘ |
| Creeping all wan and chilly by headland and sunken reef, | 14 | /˘···/˘·/˘·/˘· |
| And a wind is wailing and keening like a lost thing 'mid the islands, | 17 | ····/˘·/˘······/˘ |
| Boding of wreck and tempest, plaining of dolor and grief. | 14 | /˘···/˘/˘·/˘·· |
| Swiftly the boats come homeward, over the grim bar crowding, | 14 | /˘···/˘·····/˘ |
| Like birds that flee to their shelter in hurry and affright, | 14 | ······/˘·/˘·˘/ |
| Only the wild grey gulls that love the cloud and the clamor | 14 | /˘··········/˘ |
| Will dare to tempt the ways of the ravining sea to-night. | 14 | ········/˘˘··· |
| But the ship that sailed at the dawning, manned by the lads who love us— | 16 | ·······/˘······· |
| God help and pity her when the storm is loosed on her track! | 14 | ···/˘········· |
| O women, we pray to-night and keep a vigil of sorrow | 15 | ·/˘·······/˘·/˘ |
| For those we speed at the dawning and may never welcome back! | 14 | ······/˘··//˘· |
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.