Midnight in Camp
Night in the unslumbering forest! From the free,Vast pinelands by the foot of man untrod,Blows the wild wind, roaming rejoicinglyThis wilderness of God;And the tall firs that all day long have flungBalsamic odors where the sunshine burned,Chant to its harping primal epics learnedWhen this old world was young.
Beyond the lake, white, girdling peaks upliftUntroubled brows to virgin skies afar,And o'er the uncertain water glimmers driftOf fitful cloud and star.Sure never day such mystic beauty heldAs sylvan midnight here in this surceaseOf toil, when the kind darkness gives us peaceGarnered from years of eld.
Lo! Hearken to the mountain waterfallLaughing adown its pathway to the glenAnd nearer, in the cedars, the low callOf brook to brook again;Voices that garish daytime may not knowWander at will along the bosky steeps,And silent, silver-footed moonlight creepsThrough the dim glades below.
Oh, it is well to waken with the woodsAnd feel, as those who wait with God alone,The forest's heart in these rare solitudesBeating against our own.Close-shut behind us are the gates of care,Divinity enfolds us, prone to bless,And our souls kneel. Night in the wildernessIs one great prayer.
Words in this poem
- rejoicingly adv.
- With joi or exultation.
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
- harping a.
- Pertaining to the harp; as, harping symphonies.
- primal a.
- First; primary; original; chief. [LL. primalis, fr. L. primus the first. See Prime, a.]
- uplift v. t.
- To lift or raise aloft; to raise; to elevate; as, to uplift the arm; to uplift a rock.
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
- fitful a.
- Full of fits; irregularly variable; impulsive and unstable. [From 7th Fit.]
- surcease v. t.
- To cause to cease; to end.
- adown adv.
- From a higher to a lower situation; downward; down, to or on the ground. [OE. adun, adoun, adune. AS. of dune off the hill. See Down.]
- pathway n.
- A footpath; a beaten track; any path or course. Also used figuratively.
- garish a.
- Showy; dazzling; ostentatious; attracting or exciting attention. [Cf. OE. gauren to stare; of uncertain origin. Cf. gairish.]
- bosky a.
- Woody or bushy; covered with boscage or thickets. [Cf. Bushy.]
- waken v. i.
- To wake; to cease to sleep; to be awakened. [OE. waknen, AS. wæcnan; akin to Goth. gawaknan. See Wake, v. i.]
- kneel v. i.
- To bend the knee; to fall or rest on the knees; -- sometimes with down. [OE. knelen, cneolien; akin to D. knielen, Dan. knæle. See Knee.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Midnight in Camp 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, Midnight in Camp, in The Watchman and Other Poems (1916), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/montgomery-watchman/midnight-in-camp.html, id L29393.
Form and metre
Midnight in Camp is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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-ABCCB free · untrodA · rejoicingly · godA · flungB · burnedC · learnedC · youngB
- 2 ABABCDDC upliftA · afarB · driftA · starB · heldC · surceaseD · peaceD · eldC
- 3 ABABC--C waterfallA · glenB · callA · againB · knowC · steeps · creeps · belowC
- 4 -A-ABCCB woods · aloneA · solitudes · ownA · careB · blessC · wildernessC · prayerB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Night in the unslumbering forest! From the free, | 12 | ·······/˘··· |
| Vast pinelands by the foot of man untrod, | 11 | ··········· |
| Blows the wild wind, roaming rejoicingly | 10 | ····/˘˘/˘˘ |
| This wilderness of God; | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| And the tall firs that all day long have flung | 10 | ·········· |
| Balsamic odors where the sunshine burned, | 10 | ···/˘··/·· |
| Chant to its harping primal epics learned | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| When this old world was young. | 6 | ······ |
| Beyond the lake, white, girdling peaks uplift | 11 | ·····/˘˘·/˘ |
| Untroubled brows to virgin skies afar, | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| And o'er the uncertain water glimmers drift | 11 | ···˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| Of fitful cloud and star. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Sure never day such mystic beauty held | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| As sylvan midnight here in this surcease | 10 | ·/˘/····˘/ |
| Of toil, when the kind darkness gives us peace | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Garnered from years of eld. | 6 | /˘···· |
| Lo! Hearken to the mountain waterfall | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Laughing adown its pathway to the glen | 10 | /˘˘/·/···· |
| And nearer, in the cedars, the low call | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Of brook to brook again; | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Voices that garish daytime may not know | 10 | /˘·/˘/···· |
| Wander at will along the bosky steeps, | 10 | /˘··˘/·/˘· |
| And silent, silver-footed moonlight creeps | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘/·· |
| Through the dim glades below. | 6 | ······ |
| Oh, it is well to waken with the woods | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And feel, as those who wait with God alone, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| The forest's heart in these rare solitudes | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Beating against our own. | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Close-shut behind us are the gates of care, | 10 | ·········· |
| Divinity enfolds us, prone to bless, | 10 | ˘/˘˘˘/···· |
| And our souls kneel. Night in the wilderness | 11 | ·/˘·····/˘˘ |
| Is one great prayer. | 4 | ···· |
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.