Shore Twilight
Lo, find we here when the ripe day is o'er,A kingdom of enchantment by the shore!
Behold the sky with early stars ashine,A jewelled flagon brimmed with purple wine.
Like a dumb poet's soul the troubled seaMoans of its joy and sorrow wordlessly;
But the glad winds that utter naught of griefMake silver speech by headland and by reef.
Saving for such there is no voice or callTo mar the gracious silence over all—
Silence so tender 'tis a sweet caress,A most beguiling and dear loneliness.
Lo, here we find a beckoning solitude,A winsome presence to be mutely wooed,
Which, being won, will teach us fabled lore,The old, old, gramarye of the sibyl shore!
Oh, what a poignant rapture thus to beLingering at twilight by the ancient sea!
Words in this poem
- ashine a.
- Shining; radiant.
- flagon n.
- A vessel with a narrow mouth, used for holding and conveying liquors. It is generally larger than a bottle, and of leather or stoneware rather than of glass. [F. flacon, for flascon, fr. OF. flasche, from LL. flasco. See Flask.]
- caress n.
- An act of endearment; any act or expression of affection; an embracing, or touching, with tenderness. [F. caresse, It. carezza, LL. caritia dearness, fr. L. carus dear. See Charity.]
- beguiling a.
- Alluring by guile; deluding; misleading; diverting.
- loneliness n.
- The condition of being lonely; solitude; seclusion.
- winsome a.
- Cheerful; merry; gay; light-hearted. [AS. wynsum, fr. wynn joy; akin to OS. wunnia, OHG. wunna, wunni, G. wonne, Goth. wunan to rejoice (in unwunands sad), AS. wunian to dwell. Win, v. t., Wont, a.]
- mutely adv.
- Without uttering words or sounds; in a mute manner; silently.
- gramarye n.
- Necromancy; magic. [OE. gramer, grameri, gramori, grammar, magic, OF. gramaire, F. grammaire. See Grammar.]
- sibyl n.
- A woman supposed to be endowed with a spirit of prophecy.
- poignant a.
- Pricking; piercing; sharp; pungent. [F., p. pr. of poindre to sting, fr. L. pungere to prick, sting. See Pungent.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Shore Twilight 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, Shore Twilight, in The Watchman and Other Poems (1916), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/montgomery-watchman/shore-twilight.html, id L29365.
Form and metre
Shore Twilight is 18 lines in 9 stanzas of 2 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 78% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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.
- 2 AA ashineA · wineA
- 4 AA griefA · reefA
- 5 AA callA · allA
- 6 AA caressA · lonelinessA
- 7 AA solitudeA · wooedA
- 8 AA loreA · shoreA
- 9 AA beA · seaA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Lo, find we here when the ripe day is o'er, | 10 | ·········· |
| A kingdom of enchantment by the shore! | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| Behold the sky with early stars ashine, | 10 | ˘/···/˘·˘/ |
| A jewelled flagon brimmed with purple wine. | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Like a dumb poet's soul the troubled sea | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Moans of its joy and sorrow wordlessly; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| But the glad winds that utter naught of grief | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Make silver speech by headland and by reef. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Saving for such there is no voice or call | 10 | /˘········ |
| To mar the gracious silence over all— | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Silence so tender 'tis a sweet caress, | 10 | /˘·/˘···˘/ |
| A most beguiling and dear loneliness. | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘˘ |
| Lo, here we find a beckoning solitude, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| A winsome presence to be mutely wooed, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Which, being won, will teach us fabled lore, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| The old, old, gramarye of the sibyl shore! | 11 | ···/˘˘··/˘· |
| Oh, what a poignant rapture thus to be | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Lingering at twilight by the ancient sea! | 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.